The Wilmington College women’s basketball team lost a close battle with visiting Illinois Wesleyan Friday night at Fred Raizk Arena, 83-78.
Wilmington trailed at halftime to the Titans, 43-32, and came back with a strong third quarter effort, 29-17, to take a 61-60 lead going into the final quarter. It was a nip and tuck effort throughout, and Titans eventually pulled ahead for good with just under 2:00 to play.
The loss drops Wilmington to 7-4 on the year while the Titans improve to 6-5. On Thursday, Illinois Wesleyan battled defending Div. III national champion Thomas More in a close battle before falling to the Saints by a seven-point margin at Thomas More.
“I told our team prior to the game this would be a battle between two similar teams, both of whom play very tough schedules. It certainly lived up to that,” said Wilmington coach Jerry Scheve. “Even though we fell behind by 15 we didn’t blink and after we got ahead by nine points, they didn’t blink.”
Brittaney Jefferson and Mackenzie Campbell tied for team-high honors for Wilmington, each with 21 on the night.
For Illinois Wesleyan, Rebekah Ehresman was the top scorer with 18, while Amanda Kelly added 17 for the Titans. Scheve was very impressed with Ehresman’s effort.
“She is a real hard-nosed player and is right in the middle of everything. When they needed a spark, she was the one to get it started. She (Ehresman) is a very fine, all-around player,” Scheve said.
Providing a spark for Wilmington was Ja’Cole Tabor, who came off the bench and ignited the comeback effort for the Quakers. She scored 11 points, dished out seven assists and had four seals for Wilmington.
Wilmington had a slight edge in rebounds, 40-38, as Mary Moyer pulled down 14 rebounds for the Lady Quakers.
“Despite losing, our girls really responded and had a great effort,” said Scheve. “This will go a long way toward helping us compete when we get back in the OAC (Ohio Athletic Conference) part of our schedule and we have to get ready for Capital.”
Wilmington travels to Bexley to face the Lady Crusaders on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m.
SUMMARY
December 30, 2016
@Fred Raizk Arena
Illinois Wesleyan 83 Wilmington 78
IW 22.21.17.23…..83
WC 13.19.29.17…..78
(83) ILLINOIS WESLEYAN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Schneider 4-1-0-9, Merritt 2-0-3-7, Ehresman 8-1-1-18, McGraw 4-0-6-14, Kelly 6-2-3-17, Walsberg 1-1-0-3, Webber 0-0-2-2, Reaber 0-0-2-2, Gray 1-1-0-3, Anderson 2-2-0-6, Shanks 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 29-8-17-83.
(78) WILMINGTON COLLEGE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Harman 3-0-0-6, Moyer 2-0-3-7, Jefferson 6-2-7-21, Andracki 1-0-1-3, Campbell 9-1-2-21, Murphy 1-0-0-2, Hooper 2-0-3-7, Ritz 0-0-0-0, Smith 0-0-0-0, Tabor 5-0-1-11. TOTALS 29-3-17-78..
