BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Late game heroics lifted the No. 23/24 Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team to a 62-61 victory over Carthage College in its home opener Saturday evening, Dec. 7, at the Shirk Center. The win kept the Titans undefeated in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play at 2-0 and moved IWU to 7-2 overall on the year.
An acrobatic layup by junior Kendall Sosa (Normal, Ill.-Normal Community) with 35 seconds gave Illinois Wesleyan a 60-59 advantage, but Carthage responded with a bucket of its own with 16 seconds to go to regain a one-point edge. With the clock winding down, sophomore Brooke Lansford (Leawood, Kan.-Blue Valley West) found senior Sydney Shanks (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) at the free throw line. Working against two defenders, Shanks elevated over two defenders and knocked down a fadeaway jumper to give IWU a 62-61 lead. The Titan defense held strong on the final possession to secure the win.
Shanks' game-winning bucket with nine seconds to play was the exclamation point to a double-double effort from the Bloomington, Ill. native as she scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. The 5-foot-8 guard also added three assists and a trio of steals. Also recording a double-double was junior Riley Brovelli (Oglesby, Ill.-LaSalle-Peru), who notched 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Sosa scored a team-high 16 points, all of which came in the second half, while Lansford contributed 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
IWU was fueled by the play of Brovelli in the early going, jumping out to a 15-3 lead midway through the first quarter, but Carthage rallied back. The Lady Reds outscored the Titans 16-11 in the second frame to cut Illinois Wesleyan's lead five, 31-26, at the break.
After a third quarter that saw the teams trade basket for basket, Carthage scored on back-to-back possessions to take its first lead of the game, 45-43, with just under nine minutes to play.
The Lady Reds used a triple to extend their lead to nine, 56-47, minutes later, but back-to-back three-pointers by Sosa pulled the Titans within three and forced a Carthage timeout.
CC's regrouping session did little to cut the momentum as Sosa knocked down a jumper and Brovelli found sophomore
Kaia Bowen (Rantoul, Ill.-St. Thomas More) for a bucket to put Illinois Wesleyan ahead by one, 57-56, with 3:05 on the clock.
The back-and-forth action continued over the final three minutes, leading to Shanks' game-winning bucket to wrap up a gritty 62-61 win.
Illinois Wesleyan take a brief break from CCIW play with a non-conference bout against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Monday, Dec. 9, inside the Shirk Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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