BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The host Titans used a late surge in the fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat the No. 19 Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Midwest Challenge, 59-54.
The loss moves the Bears to 5-2 overall, while No. 17 Illinois Wesleyan improved to 4-2 on the season.
Junior
Sidney Rogers led three WashU players in double figures with 18 points. Classmate
Alyssa Hughes tallied 11 points, while senior
Jordan Rich added 10 points against the Titans. Rich nearly had a double-double with eight steals on the day.
Hit with foul trouble early, junior
Lexy Harris finished with seven rebounds and five points against IWU.
It took over two minutes into the contest for the first points to be scored, as Harris used a hook shot to put the Bears on the board first at 7:58. The Titans responded with a three-pointer almost immediately and maintained a lead until a pair of free throws by Hughes with 3:27 left in the quarter put WashU back on top 6-5. Once again, IWU responded quickly to retake the lead, one they would hold 12-10 going into the second quarter.
It remained a slow-scoring contest in the second quarter, with just 10 points combined in the first four and a half minutes as the game was tied at 16-16 on a layup from Rogers. Three minutes later, a turnaround jumper from Hughes gave WashU the lead once again, 18-16 at 2:31. A Titan layup with 1:27 left in the half tied it up once again at 20-20, but a step-back jumper from Rogers with 1:06 left on the clock put the Bears ahead 22-20 going into the locker room.
If the second quarter was low in scoring, the third quarter turned 180 as the teams then combined for 39 points in the period. WashU looked to surge ahead as it had done multiple times in the second half, leading by 11 nearly halfway through the third quarter, 33-22. However, the Titans responded with a 17-9 run in the final five minutes to pull back within just three going into the fourth quarter.
IWU scored the first two baskets of the fourth to retake the lead for the first time since 6:33 left in the second quarter. The Bears immediately used baskets from both Rogers and Hughes to go up by three with just under eight minutes left to play. A three-pointer by Rogers with just under six minutes left saw the lead grow to four, 49-45.
IWU answered with an 11-0 run over the next 2:35 to go up by seven, a lead they would not relinquish. Trailing by seven with just over a minute left, WashU got a free throw from Harris and a driving layup from Rogers to cut the lead to four, but the Titans settled in and knocked down a free throw in the final seconds to escape with the 59-54 win over the Bears.
For their efforts over the two games, both Rogers and Harris were named to the All-Tournament team.
WashU will have just over a week until their next contest when the Bears return home on Monday, Dec. 8, to welcome Westminster (MO) to the Field House. Tip-off with the Blue Jays is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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