Dupage Policy Journal

The Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team secured a decisive 95-57 victory over Centre College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The game took place on Friday night, March 7, in Bloomington, Illinois. With this win, IWU, ranked fourth, advances to face 13th-ranked Trine College in the second round.

Senior Mallory Powers achieved a significant milestone by joining the program's 1000-point club during the game. Powers scored 18 points, with her first three-pointer pushing her past the threshold. Junior Ava Bardic also contributed significantly by leading the Titans with 18 points as one of three players to finish in double figures for IWU. Seniors Kate Palmer and Lauren Huber added 14 and 10 points respectively. Freshman Alyssa Epps recorded a career-high nine points.

Junior Sara Balli led the team with ten rebounds and six points. Palmer was instrumental defensively with five steals and two blocks, while junior Sawyer White provided four assists.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 48.7 percent from the field, completing 38 out of 78 attempts and made eight out of 24 from beyond the arc. They were successful on eleven out of fifteen free throws. In contrast, Centre College shot at a rate of 36.5 percent from the floor and struggled from three-point range with only three successful shots out of twenty attempts.

The Titans demonstrated dominance across several areas: they led in points off turnovers (33-15), points in the paint (52-34), second-chance scoring (19-10), fastbreak scoring (20-2), and bench scoring (41-9). They also controlled rebounding with a margin of 50-34 and won the turnover battle by forcing Centre into more turnovers than they committed themselves.

With this victory, Illinois Wesleyan moves forward to compete against Trine College tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., continuing their journey in the tournament.