Illinois Wesleyan 84, UW-Stout 75 [PDF]
DE PERE (November 15, 2019) - Down 26 points midway through the third period, UW-Stout launched a furious comeback to get as close as five points with a minute left, but the Blue Devils lost their first game of the season, 84-75, to Illinois Wesleyan University, Friday at Mulva Sports Center in the first game of the St. Norbert College Tournament.
The Blue Devils (1-1) dug themselves into a deep hole in the second period, getting outscored 32-6 in the stanza to trail 44-23 at halftime. Illinois Wesleyan (3-0) continued the barrage into the second half, outscoring Stout 10-5 over the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Stout refused to roll over. Trailing 54-28, Stout went on a 12-0 over the next two minutes, led by
Liz Oswald's seven points and aided by
Shannan Watkins' three-point play and a basket by
Lindsey Johnson to pull to with 14 points. Defensively, the Blue Devils recorded three steals in the run, two by Watkins and another by
Becky Fesenmaier. Oswald and Watkins tallied seven points in the final three minutes of the period and Stout pulled to within 11 points, 58-47 at the break.
The teams traded mini-runs in the fourth period as Wesleyan built up a 15 points lead, 65-50, with 5:26 remaining, only to see Stout chip away and cut the lead into single digits when
Emily Jacques hit a layup to pull Stout to within 74-66 with about two minutes left.
Stout got as close as five points, 76-71, with just less than a minute remaining. With Stout forced to foul, the Titans made good on their end of the deal, dropping in 8-of-10 charity shots to close out the game.
Watkins led all scorers with a career-best 27 points and also had a career-best nine rebounds. Oswald was two points short of matching her career-best, dropping in 20 points.
Amber Fabeck contributed 15 points. Stout 29-69 (.420) from the floor, 7-28 (.250) from 3-point range and 10-15 (.667) from the line.
Illinois Wesleyan got 25 points from Kendall Sosa - Sosa was 12-of-12 from the free throw line - and 20 points from Sydney Shanks. Riley Brovelli recorded a double-double, scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Samantha Munroe had 16 points. The Titans shot a blistering 92.9 percent in the dominant second period, hitting 13-14 from the floor, and 4-4 from 3-point range. For the game, the Titans were 28-55 (.509) from the floor, 6-16 (.375) from beyond the arc and 22-30 (.732) from the line.
The vast majority of the scoring for both teams came from the starters. Illinois Wesleyan scored two points off the bench and Stout six points.
The Blue Devils will play St. Norbert College, Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. in the consolation game. The Green Knights lost 63-55 to Calvin College.
