ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The No. 17-ranked Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team was limited to 20 second half points in a 67-54 loss to No. 10-ranked DePauw at the Washington U. Thanksgiving Tournament in St. Louis on Saturday (Nov. 26).
The Titans jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game and extended the lead to a game-high nine points at 11-2 with 14:56 left in the first.
But DePauw battled back to outscore IWU 12-3 and tie the game at 14-14 with 9:35 to go before halftime.
The Tigers claimed a three-point lead at 23-20 but IWU scored 14 of the last 23 points in the last 6:19 of the half to take a 34-32 lead going into the locker rooms.
IWU went up 38-36 with 18:00 to play in the game before DePauw went on an 11-0 run to grab a 47-38 lead with 11:30 remaining.
The Tigers led by 12 at 56-44 with 8:32 remaining and had a 17-point lead at 67-50 as late as 2:20 left. DePauw missed six straight free throws late when they could have extended that lead.
Senior Olivia Lett scored 18 points and junior Melissa Gardner scored 15, despite going only 1-for-11 in 3-point shooting.
Illinois Wesleyan made 17 of 59 from the field (28.8 percent) and connected on only three of 21 3-point field goal attempts (14.3 percent) while making 17 of 19 free throws (89.5 percent).
DePauw shot 40.4 percent (21 of 52) from the field and made five of 12 (41.7 percent) from 3-point range. The Tigers struggled at the line, making only 20 of 34 (58.8 percent).
DePauw had a commanding 47-33 rebounding edge in the game as Ellie Pearson had a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior guard Brittany Hasselbring had a team-best seven boards for IWU.
DePauw was guilty of 15 turnovers compared to 10 for the Titans.
Katie Aldrich scored 21 to lead the Tigers and Savannah Trees came off the bench to provide 13 points.
The Titans will play at 1 p.m. tomorrow against 1-4 Hendrix, who lost 62-52 to No. 7-ranked Washington U. (4-0).