KENOSHA, Wis. – The Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team clinched the No. 2 seed and first-round bye in next week's College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament with a 70-62 win over Carthage College Saturday evening, Feb. 22, inside Tarble Arena.

With the victory, IWU improved its record to 17-8 overall and 11-5 in the CCIW. Meanwhile, the loss ended Carthage's season short of the conference tournament with a 11-14 overall mark and 6-10 CCIW record.

A layup by the Lady Reds cut the Titans' lead to one, 61-60, with 2:48 to play, but junior Samantha Munroe (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles East) hit a floater to put IWU in front by three with just over two minutes to play. After a pair of Carthage free throws cut the Illinois Wesleyan advantage to one again, sophomore Brooke Lansford (Leawood, Kan.-Blue Valley West) hit a baseline jumper to give the Titans some cushion. From there, IWU closed it out at the free throw line, going 5-for-5 in the final minute to take the eight-point victory.

IWU's captains led the way offensively, as junior Kendall Sosa (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) went off for a team-high 24 points and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Senior Sydney Shanks (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) added 16 points, four steals, three rebounds, two assists, and a block. Munroe contributed 12 points, dished out a team-best three assists, and tied Sosa and junior Riley Brovelli (Oglesby, Ill.-LaSalle-Peru) for the team lead with six boards.

As a team, the Titans overcame a slow offensive start to finish 25-for-57 from the floor (43.9 percent). IWU knocked down six three-pointers and used an impressive performance at the free throw line to hold off the Lady Reds. The Titans went 14-for-15 from the charity stripe to post its best free throw percentage (93.3) in a game since going 19-for-20 versus UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 16, 2017.

Defensively, Illinois Wesleyan held Carthage to 20-of-57 from the floor (35.1 percent) and 7-of-22 from three-point range. IWU and CC finished even at 35-all on the glass, while also tying in assists (10-10), turnovers (23-23), and blocks (2-2). The Titans tallied eight steals to the Lady Reds' seven.

Carthage held the upperhand early on, but a pull-up jumper by Shanks at the buzzer evened the score at 11-all through one quarter of play.

In the second period, IWU pieced together a 14-3 run to go up by five on a three-ball by Shanks. The triple to close the half gave Illinois Wesleyan a 27-22 edge at the break.

The Titans showed no sign of slowing down in the third, as sophomore Catie Eck (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart-Griffin) found Munroe for a three-pointer to give them their largest lead of the game, 41-30.

With Carthage attempting to kickstart a comeback, IWU forced a timely 10-second backcourt violation and Sosa converted an and-one to keep the cushion at 46-39. A off-balanced baseline jumper from Lansford beat the buzzer to put the Titans in front by nine, 50-41, with 10 minutes to play.

The Lady Reds cut the Titan lead to one three different times in the final stanza, but Illinois Wesleyan held tough and closed out the game at the free throw line for the 70-62 win.

As the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tournament, IWU will advance to the CCIW semifinals via a first-round bye. Semifinals are scheduled to take place Friday, Feb. 28, on the campus of Wheaton College. The Titans will face the highest remaining seed of the No. 6 North Central-No. 2 North Park and No. 4 Millikin-No. 5 Augustana quarterfinal matchups, which will be played Tuesday, Feb. 25, while No. 1-seeded Wheaton will face the lower seed in the other semifinal game. For more information on the upcoming CCIW Tournament click here.