On Saturday, Jan 28. The Illinois Wesleyan Women’s Basketball Team suffered a heartbreaking loss of 75-72 against Augustana College. The ladies dropped to an 11-9 record (6-5) in the CCIW after losing on the road. With the loss, the Titans slot in at fifth place in the CCIW as the Vikings climb up to the third spot.
Sophomore guard Lauren Huber continued her high-scoring streak as she notched another 30-point performance on the season. Huber shot 13-21 from the field and made all three of her shots from the charity stripe. Also cleaning up the boards Huber contributed with a team-high nine rebounds.
Completing the stellar backcourt, sophomore Kate Palmer added 12 points of her own. All of her points came from beyond the arc, as Palmer shot 4-6 from the three-point line. Contributing on the defensive side Palmer also added a game-high four steals.
Rounding off the scoring contributions of the starting lineup junior Catie Knutson dropped nine points while shooting 75 percent from the field. While senior Katelyn Heller scored six points and also added five assists and seven rebounds.
Freshman guard Sawyer White came off the bench and provided a much-needed spark with five points of her own. White also added a career-best and game-high nine assists. Four of those going to Huber as the freshman seemed to facilitate and find the hot hand of the night.
The Green and White started the game off fast gaining a five-point lead over the Vikings at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long after the break as Augustana tied the game up in the first sixty seconds of the second quarter.
A back-and-forth contest resulted in a total 10 lead changes and five game-tying shots throughout the game. Going into halftime a mere one-point deficit was the difference as Augustana was up 35-34.
The scoring dominance continued for Huber as she dropped 10 of her points in the third quarter to minimize Viking damage. As the final quarter of play approached, Augustana was leading the Titans 57-53 leading to a nail-biting ending.
Freshman Laura Mahlum scored five straight points for the Titans giving them an early lead in the fourth quarter going up 58-57. That was the last time IWU would lead in the game as the Vikings would go up 61-58 with about eight minutes remaining.
The Green and White managed to cut the deficit by two with 11 seconds left in the game but were unable to mount a comeback.
IWU will continue CCIW play as they return to the friendly confines of Shirk Center. The Titans will host Carroll University on Saturday, Feb 4 and tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.