The Illinois Wesleyan University Women’s Basketball team escaped Naperville with a win over North Central College on Saturday, Feb. 11.
The final road game of the season for the Titans slots them with an overall record of 14-10 (9-6 in the CCIW) in a 72-65 victory.
Three double-digit scorers on the night for the Titans
Another excellent offensive performance from sophomore Lauren Huber paced the Titans as she dropped a game-high 23 points. Huber also hauled down a game-high 15 rebounds as she recorded her 10th double-double of the season. On the defensive side, Huber added three steals as the Titans created 21 Cardinal turnovers.
Despite battling injuries throughout the year it has not stopped Huber as she continued to provide dominance all over the floor which granted praise from Head Coach, Mia Smith after the game.
“We’re grateful Lauren is in a Titan uniform every game because I would never want to go into a game without her.”
Creating turnovers has led the Titans to many victories and there was no difference against the Cardinals as they turned over the ball 13 times in the first half due to the high press that Coach Smith implemented.
“I didn’t think we were quite as aggressive as we needed to be in forcing turnovers. It seemed we were kind of content going alongside them but once we turned it up a little more in the second quarter I thought it was better. Right at the end of the third quarter, we had a little bit of spurt and that probably proved to be the difference in the ball game,” Smith said.
The Titans went on a 6-0 run in the final minute of the third quarter where Huber scored back-to-back layups after a pair of free throws by senior Katelyn Heller. Going into the fourth quarter the Titans held a nine-point lead and never looked back.
A 22-10 lead in points off turnovers proved to be the catalyst to the Titan’s win. The dominance on the glass is not overlooked as IWU brought down 17 offensive boards compared to North Central’s one.
The Titans will close out regular season play where they will host Carthage College at the Shirk Center on Saturday, Feb. 18. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. where IWU will honor their seniors pregame.