LA CROSSE, WIS. – Melanie McCreight (Jr.-Winfield, Iowa) stayed hot with 24 points and Iowa Wesleyan College clinched the Midwest Collegiate Conference regular season title outright with a 70-44 win over Viterbo (Wis.) University Saturday afternoon on the V-Hawks’ Homecoming weekend.
Jessi Beachey (Jr.-Fisher, Ill.) also added 17 points and helped the 14th-ranked Tigers win their tenth straight game. IWC also held the V-Hawks to 23.0% shooting, improving to 21-7 overall, 14-1 in the MCC and clinching their third outright conference title in five years. Wesleyan previously clinched the top seed in the upcoming MCC postseason tourney with a win Wednesday at #19 Grand View University.
The Tigers never trailed, taking care of business from the start and holding Viterbo to just 14 points in the first half. Wesleyan led by as many as 18 points in the first half and McCreight and Beachey combined for 22 of the Tigers’ 31 points in the first 20 minutes. IWC also held the V-Hawks to 19.2% shooting in the first half, as the hosts made just 5 of 26 shots.
Iowa Wesleyan continued to hold control in the second half and led by as many as 29 points on two occasions. McCreight hit two more three-pointers to finish with four triples in the game and help the Tigers shoot 58.3% from behind the arc (7-for-12).
Wesleyan shot 44.4% for the game, making 20 of 45 shots. The Tigers also made their way to the free throw line 34 times, making 23 (67.6%). McCreight and Beachey were the only players to score in double figures, while Megan Couch (Sr.-Mooresville, Ind.) added nine points by hitting all three of her three-point attempts. Couch also added five rebounds and four steals in her first start of the season, starting in place of Jill Ginder (Jr.-Olney, Ill.) who was in uniform but did not play after suffering a concussion during Wednesday’s game at Grand View.
McCreight is averaging 20 points per game over the last seven games and set her career high in scoring for the second time in that stretch. She also led the Tigers with seven rebounds on Saturday as Wesleyan out-rebounded the V-Hawks 46-34.
Viterbo was led by Sami Weaver, who was the only player to score in double figures with 11 points. The V-Hawks shot 14 of 61 for the game and were just 1-for-20 from three-point range. Viterbo dropped to 6-22 overall, 2-12 in the MCC.
IWC will play its final regular season game next Saturday when it hosts Waldorf College for Senior Day at 1 p.m. The game will be played at Ruble Arena and will be broadcast live at www.iwc.edu/onlinemedia.
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 #14 IWC 70 Viterbo 44
