MOUNT PLEASANT – Iowa Wesleyan College posted a 51-23 rebounding advantage and owned a big advantage scoring in the paint in a 70-50 win over the College of St. Mary (Neb.) Friday night at Ruble Arena.
The Tigers outscored the Flames 47-6 in the paint and never trailed in winning their fourth straight game to improve to 6-6 on the season. IWC also did a terrific defensive job against one of the top three-point shooting teams in the NAIA in dropping St. Mary to 4-9 this year.
The Flames shot just 25.0% from the field, making 14 of 56 shots. St. Mary came into the game third in the nation in threes made per game and 10th in three-point percentage but was just 6-for-26 from three-point range (23.1%), well below its averages of 9.4 three-pointers per game and 38.0% rate from beyond the arc.
IWC started the game with a 9-0 run and never led by less than five the rest of the game. Wesleyan eventually used a 10-2 run to go ahead 30-15 with 5:39 left in the first half and would never lead by less than 11 points the rest of the way.
The Tigers led 39-23 at halftime and would lead by as many as 25 at 68-43 with 2:50 remaining in the game. CSM hit three of its final four shots in the closing minutes to improve its shooting percentage after hovering around 20% most of the game.
Melanie McCreight (Jr.-Winfield, Iowa) led the Tigers with 20 points, including 10 of 11 shooting at the free throw line. Jessi Beachey (Jr.-Fisher, Ill.) added 16 points in just 16 minutes of play and Sheray Brown (Jr.-Detroit, Mich.) had 10 points and 16 rebounds, her second straight game with at least 15 rebounds.
Wesleyan shot 49.0% from the field, making 25 of 51 shots, and also hit 18 of 26 free throws (69.2%). IWC did commit 27 turnovers in the game.
Terra Moyers led the Flames with 13 points and was the only player in double figures for the College of St. Mary. CSM lived up to its status as the #1 ranked free throw shooting team in the NAIA, hitting 16 of 19 foul shots (84.2%).
IWC will be back on the court Saturday afternoon when it travels to Hannibal, Mo., to face Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) College. Game time will be 5:30 p.m.
For more information regarding the IWC basketball programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score IWC 70 CSM 50
