Greencastle, Ind., November 20, 2010 – Senior forward Kathryn Berger scored a season-high 22 points but it was not enough as the No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team dropped a 73-68 decision to No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University in a battle of top-10 teams on Saturday afternoon at the DePauw University Tip-Off Tournament in Greencastle, Ind.
Washington U. missed its last five shots of the game and did not record a field goal in the final 4:52. Leading by two with 1:38 to play, a three-pointer by Nikki Preston with 54 seconds remaining gave the Titans the lead for good.
Berger connected on 3-of-5 three-pointers and 7-of-8 free-throws in the defeat for Washington U., its first loss of the season. Freshman forward Jordan Rettig added a career-high 15 points, while senior point guard Alex Hoover had nine points and tied a career-high with nine assists. The Bears committed 25 turnovers and shot 40.7 percent (22-54).
Illinois Wesleyan (1-1) started strong and led 5-0 in the first two minutes as Washington U. missed its first three shots from the field. Berger drilled back-to-back three-pointers to give the Bears their first lead at 10-9, before Illinois Wesleyan answered back with a 5-0 run to take a 14-10 advantage.
Washington U. held onto a 23-21 lead with 9:21 left in the first half after a fast-break lay-up from Berger. She hit her first three shots from the field and had eight first-half points. The Bears hit 10 of their first 18 shots from the field, but were plagued with eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Rettig had 12 points in the opening half, as the Bears shot 51.7 percent (15-29) from the field. Illinois Wesleyan was limited to 35.5 percent (11-31) shooting in the first half, and committed 15 turnovers.
Berger drilled her third three-pointer of the game to extend Washington U.'s lead to 10 (45-35), and then the Bears took their largest lead of the game at 51-39 with 14:22 to play on a lay-up by junior Claire Schaeperkoetter. The Titans mounted a comeback and got the deficit down to two with 6:45 to play after a pair of free-throws from Hope Schulte.
Berger scored eight-straight points for the Bears to get the lead back to eight at 66-58 with 4:52 to play. Illinois Wesleyan answered back with an 8-0 run of its own, and tied the game with two free-throws by Preston.
Washington University (1-1) takes on No. 12 ranked and host DePauw University on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. (ET), in the final game of the DePauw University Tip-Off Classic.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series with Illinois Wesleyan, 16-5 … The Bears have lost to Illinois Wesleyan on four-straight occasions in the season-opening Tip-Off Tournament.