SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team was limited to its lowest point total in nearly four seasons, suffering a 48-40 setback to Wisconsin Lutheran College in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships, played on Friday, March 1, at Schoenecker Arena on the campus of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.
The Titans see their season end with a 23-5 mark while Wisconsin Lutheran advances to Saturday night play with a 27-1 mark.
Illinois Wesleyan's point total of 40 was the lowest for an IWU team since a 67-39 loss at the U. of Chicago on Dec. 5, 2015.
Both teams struggled to find their offensive range as only 11 points total were scored by the two teams in the third quarter with Wisconsin Lutheran winning the quarter 6-5.
The .302 field goal shooting mark (16 of 53) was the second lowest for IWU this season and the Titans were only able to find the mark on one of 19 3-point tries. Wisconsin Lutheran shot .367 from the field (18 of 49) and made four of 14 3-pointers (.286).
The Titans were guilty of a season-high 23 turnovers while forcing the Warriors into 27, the fifth most by an IWU opponent this year.
Illinois Wesleyan fell behind early and trailed 11-4 with 2:57 left in the first quarter before going on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 16-16 after one quarter. The game was tied at 25-25 with 1:23 to go before halftime but the Warriors scored the final four points of the half to lead 29-25 at half.
IWU held their final lead of the game at 30-29 with 7:12 to play in the third but the Warriors went on an 8-0 surge to lead 37-30 with 9:12 to play and built up a 10 point advantage at 42-32 with 7:07 left. IWU was able to get within four at 44-40 with 1:36 left but was shutout the remainder of the game.
Senior
Nina Anderson and sophomore
Raven Hughes each had nine points to lead IWU and Hughes shared a team-high eight rebounds as IWU was outrebounded by the Warriors, 43-33.
Wisconsin Lutheran got 15 points out of Amanda Brug with Kelly Tramburg scoring 11 and Jen Dowden netting 10.
