ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A layup with three seconds to go spoiled the Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team's Midwest Challenge Championship hopes, 69-67, against No. 11 DePauw University Sunday, Dec. 1, at Washington University in St. Louis. IWU saw its record dip to 5-2 on the season, while DePauw improved to 6-1 overall.

With the game tied with 1:16 to play, junior Kendall Sosa (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) drained a runner to put IWU in front 66-64 with 59 seconds to play. A technical foul resulted in a three-point swing as DePauw hit a free throw and knocked down a bucket as the shot clock expired to regain a 67-66 edge. Junior Riley Brovelli's (Oglesby, Ill.-LaSalle-Peru) free throw evened the game at 67 all, but DU's Sydney Kopp's layup with three seconds to play handed Illinois Wesleyan a 69-67 heartbreaking setback.

Brovelli's fourth double-double of the season led the Titans in the tilt with the Tigers as the Oglesby, Ill. native dropped a team-high 16 points and added 11 rebounds, four steals, three assists, and a block in the loss. Senior Sydney Shanks (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) and sophomore Brooke Lansford (Leawood, Kan.-Blue Valley West) scored 13 points and four assists apiece.

The Titans converted 44.8 percent of their shots from the floor and held the Tigers to a 35.4 clip overall, but 14 DePauw three-pointers (53.8 percent) was too much to keep pace with for Illinois Wesleyan. DU held a 43-35 lead on the glass, while IWU dished out 19 assists to DePauw's 15. The Titans also held advantages in points in the paint, 30 to 16, and fastbreak points, 13 to 9.

Illinois Wesleyan struggled early on, allowing DePauw to gain an early advantage behind four first-quarter three-pointers.The Tigers led 18-7 with just under four minutes to go in the opening period but a pair of buckets by Shanks and a free throw by sophomore Kaia Bowen (Rantoul, Ill.-St. Thomas More) pulled the Titans within five, 18-13, through 10 minutes of play.

IWU kept things rolling in the next frame. Lansford knocked down a three-pointer and junior Sam Munroe (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles East) converted a jumper to even the score at 18 all and extend Illinois Wesleyan's run. 

 extending its run to 19-0 over a seven-minute span capped by a Lansford three-ball to go ahead 26-18 midway through the second half. DU broke out of its funk with a three-pointer of its own, but a Bowen triple pushed Illinois Wesleyan's lead to nine. The Tigers continued to battle back, but Lansford's floater gave the Titans a 38-32 edge into halftime.

A barrage of three-pointers by DePauw's Sydney Kopp saw the Tigers even the score at 47-47 with four minutes left in the third frame. Sophomore Catie Eck (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart-Griffin) hit a baseline three to allow IWU to regain the lead, but DU closed the period on an 8-2 run to take a 55-52 lead into the final stanza.

Brovelli swiped a DU pass and Sosa slipped an assist to Bowen for a layup before Brovelli's give-and-go with Shanks put the Titans up 57-55 with seven and a half minutes remaining. Another Shanks bucket and five straight points by Sosa catapulted IWU ahead by eight, 64-56, and forced a DePauw timeout with three minutes on the clock.

Out of the break, DePauw benefited from a pair of three-point swings to setup Kopp for the game-winning layup as IWU fell 69-67.

Illinois Wesleyan now turns its attention to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play as the Titans wrap up their eight-game roadtrip at North Central College Wednesday, Dec. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.