BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team looks to avenge an early season setback when it plays host to Augustana College Saturday night, Feb. 8, for Senior Night at the Shirk Center. Tipoff of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game is slated for 5 p.m., with Senior Night festivities set to get underway at approximately 4:45 p.m.
Illinois Wesleyan overpowered Elmhurst 85-67, Feb. 6, to move to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in CCIW play. Meanwhile, Augustana bounced back from an OT loss at Millikin, Feb. 1, to knock off Wheaton 79-66 in Rock Island, Feb. 5. The Vikings enter Saturday 11-10 on the year and 6-6 in the CCIW.
Fans can tune into the games via live stats or live stream, while Derek Bohlmann and Marsha Moody will also have the call on 98.3 FM WEXG. Links on how to follow along can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.
ECK'S CAREER DAY: Sophomore Catie Eck turned in quite a performance against Elmhurst Thursday night, Feb. 6, as the Springfield, Ill. native scored a career-high 23 points. Eck went 5-of-7 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from distance, and went 11-for-11 at the free throw line. She added five rebounds and four steals in a stat-stuffing showing. It was the first 20-point performance of her career and the 13th by a Titan this season.
COUGHING IT UP LIKE A BAD WINTER COLD: Illinois Wesleyan forced 29 Elmhurst turnovers, Feb. 6, tying a season-high for the Bluejays. The 29 miscues were the second-most IWU has forced this season, behind only Governor State's 30 turnovers in the Titans' season opener, Nov. 9. Additionally, EC's 29 miscues were its most since committing 29 at Saint Mary's, Nov. 20. Coincidentally, the last time the Bluejays coughed the ball up more than 29 times was against IWU, Feb. 15, 2017, when they did so 32 times.
Catie Eck led the Titans with four steals, while Riley Brovelli and Brooke Lansford added three swipes each. Sydney Shanks tallied two and Kaia Bowen, Megan Moody, and Emily Collins contributed one apiece.
FRESHMEN POST CAREER HIGHS: Ahead by 22 with 10 minutes to play, IWU turned to its freshmen to close out the Elmhurst game, Feb. 6. The fourth period saw Claire Retherford, Megan Moody, and Emily Collins each post career-highs. Moody scored five points, while Retherford and Collins tallied four points apiece as IWU bested the Bluejays 85-67.
THANK YOU, SYD!: Illinois Wesleyan will honor Sydney Shanks prior to tipoff Saturday as part of Senior Night. During her IWU career, Shanks has appeared in 91 games. A First Team All-CCIW pick in 2019, she has scored 789 points, grabbed 383 rebounds, dished out 245 assists, and blocked 66 shots. She ranks fifth in program history in career rejections and 13th all-time in assists.
Shanks has been a part of 80 wins and has seen the Titans compile a .640 win percentage in her time donning the Green and White. The Bloomington, Ill. native has led IWU to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of CCIW Tournament titles.
AVOIDING THE SWEEP: Illinois Wesleyan have met twice in the regular season 25 times since 1991-92. Of those 25 season series, eight have been split 1-1, while the Titans have swept the season meetings on 17 occasions.
In fact, the last time Augustana took both regular season meetings was nearly 30 years ago. The Vikings won 87-64 and 97-76 during the 1991-92 campaign.
DON'T HOLD IT AGAINST HIM: Illinois Wesleyan Athletic Director Mike Wagner is the lone common link between IWU and Augustana. Wagner, a 1992 Augie graduate, played football for the Vikings. A Honorable Mention All-American by Dan Hansen's Football Gazette, Wagner was an All-CCIW linebacker. He led Augie to three NCAA Division III Playoff appearances during his playing career.
ALL-TIME AGAINST AUGIE: Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana share a long history that dates back to the 1976-77 campaign. The Titans hold the upper hand in the 80-game series, 46-34, and have won five of the last six meetings.
Augustana come out on top 86-80 in Rock Island when the two teams tangled at Carver, Dec. 15. Kendall Sosa scored 29 points and Riley Brovelli posted a 15-point, 14-rebound double-double, but the Vikings shot 50 percent from the floor and used a 48-36 edge in the paint to hand the Titans a six-point setback.
SCOUTING REPORT - AUGUSTANA: The Vikings, who sit at 11-10 on the season and 6-6 in league play, have won three of their last four after a three-game skid. Augustana has picked up wins over Carroll, Elmhurst, and Wheaton in the past two weeks, while Augie's lone loss in that span was an overtime heartbreaker against Millikin, Feb. 1.
Alexis Jones leads the Vikings at 16.0 points per game, while also pulling down a team-best 10.9 rebounds a contest and handing out a team-high 3.3 assists per game. Mia Lambert is also averaging in double figures at 10.6 points per game, while Lauren Hall adds 7.1 boards per contest.
As a team the Vikings are shooting just 39.9 percent on the season and connecting on 33.3 percent of their three-pointers. Augustana has turned opponents over 367 times and has recorded 182 steals, while holding opponents to 68.67 points per game.
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME: Since beginning CCIW play, the Titans have taken their play to another level. With 11 league games under its belt IWU leads the conference in scoring (76.3 ppg), scoring margin (+12.1), field goal percentage (44.4), offensive rebounds (13.6 orpg), turnover margin (+4.18), assists (17.09 apg), and steals (11.09 spg).
Illinois Wesleyan also leads the league in attendance, as IWU averages 356 fans per home game. Augustana (291 pg) is the only other team in the conference bringing in more than 215 per game. Nationally, the Titans hold the 17th-best crowd average in all of Division III.
HOME COOKING: In the 25-year history of the Shirk Center, IWU has won 232 of 306 of its games on its home court, good for a .756 win percentage. The Titans are 6-1 on Denny Bridges Court this season and had won nine straight home games from Jan. 16, 2019 to Jan. 18, 2020.
ONE OF A HANDFUL: Junior Kendall Sosa has put together quite a season through 19 games. In addition to leading Illinois Wesleyan in scoring, Sosa is the only player in the country to hold a shooting percentage line of at least 45-35-88.
The Bloomington, Ill. native is converting 45.1 percent of her shot attempts, 39.4 percent of her three-pointers, and is shooting 88.7 percent at the free throw line, the ninth-best mark in the nation. She checks in at 52nd in three-point field goal percentage, and sits 148th in overall field goal percentage.
HOT SHOTS: Illinois Wesleyan has scored 1,468 points this season, the second-most of any team in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Additionally, IWU's season point total is 53rd nationally. Meanwhile, the Titans 73.4 points per game is best in the league and 46th in the country.
Illinois Wesleyan is 12-1 when scoring 67-or-more points, compared to 2-5 when held under the 67-point mark.
TITAN TRIO QUARTET: Kendall Sosa, Sydney Shanks, Riley Brovelli, and Brooke Lansford have lead the Titans' offense this season. In fact, IWU is the only team in the conference with four players ranked inside the CCIW top-16 in scoring. Sosa tops the league at 19.5 points a game, while Shanks sits eighth (12.3), Brovelli is tied for 13th (10.8), and Lansford is tied or 16th (10.2).
THE 49TH YEAR OF IWU WOMEN'S HOOPS: Illinois Wesleyan has compiled a 659-473 overall record. IWU's .581 all-time win percentage includes a 303-188 CCIW mark.
SHARING IS CARING: A key to the Titans success through 20 games of the season has been their selflessness. Illinois Wesleyan has dished out 336 assists, the second-most in the CCIW and the 24th-most in the country. IWU's 16.8 assists per game are 19th-best in the country.
ALL COMES DOWN TO CASHING IN: Free throws have been an indicator of the Titans' success in 2019-20. In fact, IWU is 8-1 when shooting 70 percent-or-better from the charity stripe compared to 6-5 when shooting less than 70 percent from the line. Additionally, Illinois Wesleyan is 10-1 when making 10-or-more free throws.
TRYING TO JOIN THE CLUB: With seven games to play in the regular season, junior Kendall Sosa is on the verge of becoming just the third Titan all-time to average 20+ points per game for a season. Currently, the junior guard owns a 19.6 points per game average, the best in the CCIW and the 30th-best nationally.
Should Sosa maintain her pace, she will join Lila Naffziger and Olivia Lett as the only other Titans to average 20+ ppg for a season. Naffziger did so in 1979-80, averaging a program record 25.4 ppg, and Lett (21.8 ppg) accomplished the feat in 2011-12.
I'LL TAKE THREE-POINTERS FOR 100, ALEX: In Illinois Wesleyan's game against Wheaton, Jan. 22, junior Kendall Sosa became the 15th player in IWU history with 100+ career three-pointers made. Currently, the Bloomington, Ill. native's 109 career three-pointers are 18 behind Nina Anderson's 13th-ranked total of 125. Mallory Heydorn holds the program record with 281 career triples from 2005 to 2009.
ON THE HORIZON: Illinois Wesleyan hits the road for back-to-back contests following Saturday's game, beginning with a stop in Decatur, Feb. 12. Tipoff against Millikin is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Griswold Center.
