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| U.SportsFriday, March 7, 2008 11:58 PM CST |
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Titan women shoot lights out in NCAA opener
BLOOMINGTON -- Illinois Wesleyan let its explosive scoring ability trickle out while building a 10-point lead in the first three minutes of Friday’s NCAA Division III Tournament game at Shirk Center. | Photo gallery The close of the opening half, however, was an offensive tidal wave. The Titans scored 25 points in the final five and a half minutes before halftime to drown Maryville with a 21-point deficit, and Wesleyan rode in the surf for a 111-77 victory before a crowd of 1,700. “Holy cow. I thought it would be a thoroughbred race and it was,” said IWU coach Mia Smith. “I loved our transition. We really executed offensively and took the right shot at the right time with open people.” While claiming their school-record 16th straight victory, the No. 7-ranked Titans moved to 26-2 and will meet No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater at 7 p.m. today with a sectional berth on the line. Wesleyan improved its all-time NCAA record to 2-4 in its first home national tournament game. The Titans set a school record for most points in an NCAA contest with 17:48 remaining. “The crowd was going crazy. It pumped us up,” said sophomore Christina Solari, who scored a career-high 25 points to go with 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals. “We’ve been waiting to play all week. Enough with the practices.” Shooting practice evidently went well for the Titans, who nailed their first five 3-point attempts. When Elyse Sanchez had IWU’s first miss from behind the arc, she chased down her own rebound and fed Nikki Preston for a baseline jumper that extended the Titans’ lead to 27-12. Maryville (24-4) pulled within 38-36 on consecutive 3-pointers from Kimberly Douglas and Courtney Bergheger. “We had stopped their 3-pointers and made some of our own. We made a little run and were playing well defensively,” said Saints’ junior and Bloomington native Sara Wemlinger. ‘Then we broke down mentally.” Claire Sheehan scored eight of her 26 points as Wesleyan wrapped up the half with a 25-6 flourish for a 63-42 advantage at the break. “We turned it up and realized we had to finish the half strong,” Sheehan said. “We were pushing the ball. Mal (Heydorn) had her head up and she sees the floor so well. We were hitting threes and going inside. It was all clicking.” Maryville, which had a 20-game winning streak halted, got little solace from its 51.5 percent first-half shooting prowess. “They shot 65 percent,” Saints’ coach Chris Ellis said of IWU’s 23 of 35 first half. “That’s ridiculous. Nobody does that. It’s not like we weren’t guarding them.” Two Solari three-point plays were part of a 10-0 Wesleyan second-half surge that put the Titans ahead 82-50. “I’m really impressed with Christina’s ballgame,” said Smith. “Lately she’s been unstoppable. I like her mentality looking for her shot more. And there’s not a player on the floor who wants a rebound more than she does right now.” Heydorn scored 15 points and handed out nine assists, while Sarah Bull added 13 points. Allie Wilhelm, Maryville’s 6-foot-2 junior, scored 14 points but fouled out with 11:03 to play. Bergheger also had 14, while Toni Picerno chipped in 13 and Wemlinger 11. The Titans finished at 59.7 percent from the field (40 of 67) and outrebounded the Saints, 40-27. “You’re going to see strength and power (in Whitewater) versus speed and finesse,” Smith said of today’s matchup. “We have to be a little quicker.” Whitewater-Manchester No. 8-ranked Whitewater saw an early 12-point lead trimmed to four entering halftime, but reestablished control quickly in the second half en route to a 77-60 victory over Manchester. “We did a really good job defensively early,” Whitewater coach Keri Carollo said. “It was nice to see us come out of the gates ready to go.” Tiffany Morton paced the Warhawks (25-3) with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kelsey Hendrickson added 13 points and Lindsey Buechner and Heidi Sonntag had 10 each. “They are pretty solid at all five spots,” said Manchester coach Josh Dzurick, whose team was outrebounded, 42-31. “Pick your poison.” Sarah Bose scored a team-high 15 points for the Spartans, who bowed out at 19-9. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Blackcatter wrote on Mar 8, 2008 11:45 AM:
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