ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Midwest Challenge Championship games lived up to its billing as the seventh-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team battled No. 11 WashU on the Bears' home floor Sunday evening, Dec. 1. The Titans (6-0) won the title game between the two undefeateds, 67-59, to win the weekend tournament for the third straight year and earn their third top-25 win of the season. The Bears were hit with their first loss of the season as WashU dropped to 5-1 on the year.
The game was a defensive battle from start to finish with Illinois Wesleyan's daunting full-court press ultimately making the difference. IWU overcame a slow shooting day as the Green and White converted just 37.1 percent (23-of-52) of its shots overall, while going 8-for-24 in three-point tries and 13-for-21 at the free throw line. The Bears, who had been averaging 93 points per game coming into the contest, shot 41.9 percent from the field (26-of-62) and went just 3-for-19 from beyond the arc. WashU finished 4-for-5 at the free throw line.
IWU forced WashU into 23 turnovers, a season-high for the Bears, resulting in 19 points for the Titans. The Green and White also led fastbreak scoring, 8-2. WashU held leads in bench points (21-15), points in the paint (36-22), and second chance points (18-11). The Bears won the rebounding battle, 41-36, but IWU secured 12 offensive boards to WashU's 11.
Senior Lauren Huber (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard East) and junior Ava Bardic (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) each put up 20-point efforts as the only Titans to finish with double-digit points. Huber scored a season-high 24 points and also tallied team-highs of seven rebounds and four assists. Bardic poured in 20 points, including three triples, to go along with four rebounds and two steals. Junior Sawyer White (Downers Grove, Ill.-Montini Catholic) served as a strong change of pace off the bench, scoring seven points and adding a game-high seven steals.
Huber provided IWU with an early lead on the game's first bucket, before later hitting a layup off a junior Sara Balli (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) assist to push the Titans ahead, 14-13, later in the period. WashU finished off the opening quarter with five straight points though, as the Bears carried an 18-14 lead into the second.
Shooting woes saw the Titans fall behind by as many as 10 in the second quarter, as the Green and White were held scoreless for the first 3:40 of the period. Huber ended the drought with a bucket before capping an 8-2 IWU run with a dish to Bardic. The spurt brought the Titans back within four, but the Bears scored the final four points of the half to take a 30-24 advantage at half.
Illinois Wesleyan flipped a switch in the second half, holding WashU scoreless for nearly three and a half minutes. Senior Kate Palmer (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva) found Huber for a layup off a reset and White followed with a jumper. Drawing plenty of attention out near the wing, Bardic thread a pass to Huber for a wide-open layup to level the score, 30-30.
WashU ended the run with a triple and later a pair of free throws to reclaim a five-point advantage, but Illinois Wesleyan came right back with a 17-6 run.
Balli skipped a pass to fellow junior Laura Mahlum (Barrington, Ill.-Barrington) for a wing three and Huber muscled through contact to hit a turnaround jumper. With the Bears up two after a tipped pass led to a layup, Huber slipped a pass to Bardic for an and-one to give IWU a 38-37 edge.
Balli's straightway three-ball and a White wing trey upped Illinois Wesleyan's lead to four, before White came up with a timely steal. Picking the pocket of the Bears, White quickly pushed the pace, leasing to a pair of free throws by senior Mallory Powers (Amboy, Ill.-Amboy).
Leading 47-41, the Titans weather a strong push from the Bears to take a 49-46 lead into the final 10-minute period.
Illinois Wesleyan deployed its full court press to precision in the fourth, forcing WashU to cough up the ball three times in the first 57 seconds. A steal by White on the Bears' first possession was followed by a Huber three-pointer off the dish by Palmer. The Green and White cashed in on another miscues seconds later as Powers swiped a ball at halfcourt and Huber swung a pass to Bardic for a three-ball. The triple catapulted the Titans ahead, 56-46, and forced a WashU timeout with 8:45 to play.
The Bears used a seven-point run over more than two minutes to claw back within three but Powers found Bardic for a nothing-but-net three-pointer with 4:14 to play. IWU used free throws to finish off the scoring from there and escape with a 67-59 triumph.
Illinois Wesleyan will now turn its attention to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play as a five-game roadtrip continues Wednesday night, Dec. 4. IWU will begin league action at North Park University with a 7 p.m. tipoff against the Vikings.