ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst women's basketball team rallied from a double digit deficit to stun 14th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 63-60 at R.A. Faganel Hall.
Elmhurst remained perfect on the season, improving to 3-0 with the win. Whitewater fell to 1-1 with the loss.
"This was a great win for our program," said Elmhurst head coach Tethnie Carrillo. "It's a step in the right direction of where I believe this program is headed."
The two squads traded buckets and leads early in the first half before Whitewater used a 17-4 run over a five minute span to open up an 11-point advantage at 32-21. The Warhawks led by 11 with 3:41 left in the half, but the Bluejays finished the half on an 8-0 run to pull to within three points (34-31) at the half. Kalia Summerlin helped spark the Bluejays' run by coming off the bench and knocking down back-to-back three-pointers.
Whitewater answered back at the start of the second half, opening on a 15-6 run to build a 12-point cushion with 13:44 left to play. Trailing by nine, Elmhurst used an 11-1 run to grab its first lead of the half on a Katie Swanson three-pointer with 4:34 left on the clock. A Hannah Lipman layup put the Bluejays up by three, by a three-point play from Lisa Palmer evened the score at 57-57 with 3:15 remaining.
After a jumped by Lipman gave the Bluejays a two-point cushion, Whitewater's Abbie Reeves drilled a three-pointer with 1:44 left on the clock to put the Warhawks up 60-59. A pair of free throws fromFiona McMahon gave Elmhurst a 61-60 lead 13 seconds later. Lipman rejected Reilly Stewart on Whitewater's next possession, but a missed jumper by the Bluejays gave the Warhawks the ball back with a minute to go. After Reeves missed a jumper, the Bluejays turned the ball over giving Whitewater the ball back with just under 30 seconds left.
The Warhawks' Reilly Stewart missed a jumper and McMahon won the battle for the rebound and was fouled in the process. The Elmhurst senior sank both free throws to give Elmhurst a 63-60 lead with 15 seconds left to play.
Whitewater looked for Reeves on its final possession, but Elmhurst prevented the Warhawks' leading scorer from touching the ball until the final seconds of the clock. Reeves wasn't able to get a potential game-tying three-pointer off before the horn sounded. Elmhurst surrendered just seven points to Whitewater over the gaeme's final 11:30.
"The defense we played over the final few minutes was great," said Carrillo. "We boxed out well on their first few shots and then did a tremendous job of fighting through screens and switching off to not allow them to get a shot off."
Elmhurst finished the contest shooting 37.1 percent from the floor (23-of-62), including a 20.0 percent (3-of-15) from three-point range. The Bluejays were nearly flawless from the foul line, hitting 14-of-15 free throws, including all 13 in the second half. Elmhurst was dominant on the glass, outrebounding Whitewater 44-31 in the win.
McMahon tallied a double-double to lead a balanced scoring attack. She scored a team-leading 14 points while collecting a game-high 13 rebounds and blocking three shots. Mikaela Eppard added 13 points and eight rebounds, hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line and shooting 3-of-4 from the field. Lipman finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in the win. Swanson chipped in with nine points while Summerlin scored eight for the Bluejays.
Whitewater shot 40.0 percent from the field (24-of-60), including 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from downtown.
Reeves paced Whitewater in the loss, scoring a game-high 19 points while hitting 5-of-6 from three-point range. Stewart, Brook Trewyn and Kate McKay totaled eight points apiece for the Warhawks.
Elmhurst hosts Wartburg College on Saturday, November 22.