CHICAGO - The 20th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team earned its seventh straight win with a 73-63 victory at 11th-ranked University of Chicago Saturday, Dec. 16. IWU boosted its record to 10-2 on the season with the win, while UC fell to 7-2 with its second straight loss.
Illinois Wesleyan used a gritty defensive effort to hold one of the most efficient offensive teams in check. Chicago, which had come into the game averaging 82 points per game on a 47.0 field goal percentage, scored just 63 points on a 39.3 clip. The Maroons were limited to 24-for-61 overall and just 4-of-23 from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Titans finished 25-for-67 from the field (37.3 percent) and hit 8-of-29 long range shots. IWU's biggest advantage though, was its free throw shooting, where the Green and White went 15-for-21.
The Titans worked for a 46-40 lead in rebounding, while the Maroons held the upperhand in fastbreak scoring (8-5), second chance scoring (9-7), and points in the paint (28-26), while both teams finished with 14 points off turnovers. IWU committed 15 miscues, while UC finished with 17.
Sophomore Ava Bardic (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) and junior
Caite Knutson (Maryville, Ill.-Collinsville) put up a pair of 20-point efforts in the win. Bardic finished with a game-high 24 points, on 10-for-22 shooting, to go along with five rebounds. Knutson, who carried much of the load early, finished with 21 points. The 6-foot forward went 9-for-11 at the charity stripe and added a pair of rebounds.
Junior Mallory Powers (Amboy, Ill.-Amboy) finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. Sophomore
Sawyer White (Downers Grove, Ill.-Montini Catholic) pulled in game-high 10 rebounds, while also adding seven points, three assists, and a steal.
Three-pointers by Bardic and Powers pushed Illinois Wesleyan ahead, 18-12, in the first quarter, but UC scored seven of the next eight points to trim IWU's lead to one, 20-19, after 10 minutes of play.
Chicago's momentum carried over into the second quarter as the Maroons grabbed a 23-20 advantage. Illinois Wesleyan leveled the score at 23 all as Powers kicked out to sophomore Laura Mahlum (Barrington, Ill.-Barrington) for a three-ball from the wing with 7:35 on the clock.
The Maroons capitalized on an offensive rebound with a go-ahead three with 3:53 remaining in the half, but the Titans answered with a 7-0 run. After a pair of free throws from Knutson, sophomore Sara Balli (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) drilled a three-pointer and Bardic converted a layup to give IWU a 35-31 edge.
Leading by three, 37-34, coming out of the second half, Illinois Wesleyan took advantage of 11 trips to the charity stripe. IWU hit just four buckets from the field, three of which came from distance, but went 8-for-11 at the free throw line to go ahead by double-digits, 56-46, into the final period. The key sequence came in the final two minutes as junior Kate Palmer's (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva) pass fake cleared the path for a pass to Bardic for a corner three with 1:30 to go in the period. The next time down the floor, Bardic hit another triple, this one courtesy of Mahlum's offensive rebound, to stretch the lead to double-digits and carry all of the momentum into the final stanza.
In the fourth, the Green and White's lead extended to as many as 17, before closing out the 73-63 victory.
Illinois Wesleyan takes an extended break before returning to action at Hendrix College Friday, Dec. 29, in Conway, Ark. Tipoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.
