Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content
Mallory Powers dribbling
© AshtinElder
57
Centre Centre 21-8,9-3 SAA
95
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 27-1,15-1 CCIW
Centre Centre
21-8,9-3 SAA
57
Final
95
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
27-1,15-1 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Centre Centre 6 16 19 16 57
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 27 24 24 20 95

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Powers Eclipses 1000 Career Points as IWU Advances to NCAA Second Round

Titans to play No. 13 Trine tomorrow, March 8, at 7:30 p.m.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The fourth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team grabbed a 95-57 win over Centre College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament Friday night, March 7. IWU (27-1) advances to tomorrow's second round game to face 13th-ranked Trine College at 7:30 p.m. Centre closes the season with a 21-8 record.

The game saw senior Mallory Powers (Amboy, Ill.-Amboy) join the program's 1000-point club. Powers finished with 18 points, while her first three-pointer pushed her over the threshold. Junior Ava Bardic (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) led the Titans with 18 points as one of three players to finish in double figures for the Green and White. Seniors Kate Palmer (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva) and Lauren Huber (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard East) tallied 14 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman Alyssa Epps (Berkeley, Ill.-Montini Catholic) scored a career-high nine points in the game, with 14 of 15 Titans notching a bucket.

Junior Sara Balli (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds alongside six points. Palmer paced the Titans with five steals and two blocks, with junior Sawyer White (Downers Grove, Ill.-Montini Catholic) collecting four assists.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 48.7 percent from the field, going 38-for-78, and went 8-for-24 from distance. The Titans finished 11-for-15 at the free throw line. Centre went 23-for-63 from the floor, a 36.5 percent clip. The Colonels were limited to 3-of-20 shooting from beyond the arc and went 8-for-11 at the free throw line.

The Green and White held leads in points off turnovers (33-15), points in the paint (52-34), second-chance scoring (19-10), fastbreak scoring (20-2), and bench scoring (41-9). The Titans dominated the glass, 50-34, and won the turnover battle, 22-15. 

Centre won the tip and scored the game's first bucket, but Illinois Wesleyan came right back with a 22-point run. Palmer nailed a mid-range jumper and Powers followed with back-to-back three-pointers, the first of which gave her 1000 career points, to get the run started. Bardic followed with a jumper and the run-and-jump defense forced a 10-second call on the ensuing inbounds. Making the most of the miscue, Bardic drilled a triple to push IWU in front, 13-2. 

After buckets by White and senior Caitie Knutson (Maryville, Ill.-Collinsville), Bardic drained a corner three-pointer. Balli closed the run with a swipe and score to extend the lead to 22-2. Huber hit a late putback and-one to give IWU a 27-6 lead after one period.

The Titans showed no signs of slowing down in the second quarter, moving ahead by as many as 31. 

The second half featured Epps' nine-point outburst and five points from sophomore Sophia Feeney (Normal, Ill.-Normal Community), along with buckets by freshman Luigi Lam (Kowloon, Hong Kong-Wa Ying College), sophomores Liv Meyers (Elmwood, Ill.-Elmwood) and Mackenzie Huber (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard East), and juniors Martha Lipic (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) and Payton Jacob (St. Joseph, Ill.-St. Joseph-Ogden).

With the win, Illinois Wesleyan advances to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The Titans will face No. 13 Trine tomorrow, March 8, at 7:30 p.m.

 
Print Friendly Version