SIOUX CITY – The Iowa Wesleyan College women’s basketball team struggled in a pair of losses in the Morningside College Holiday Classic held Monday and Tuesday in Sioux City.
The Tigers were defeated by Briar Cliff University 87-64 on Tuesday afternoon. The loss to the Chargers came less than 20 hours after IWC lost 76-44 to Morningside, the top-ranked team in NAIA Division II.
Wesleyan struggled with turnovers in the tourney with 52 giveaways over the two games. Against Briar Cliff the Tigers committed 23 turnovers and were out-rebounded 45-28 in dropping to 7-7 on the season.
Brittany Okland (Sr.-Kelley, Iowa) led IWC with 12 points against the Chargers, while Rachel Mitchell (Sr.-Des Moines, Iowa) and Ali DeVries (Jr.-Bellevue, Iowa) added 11 each. Mitchell also had eight assists, but the Chargers shot 50% for the game (35-for-70) on the way to an easy win.
The Tigers suffered several cold spells in Monday night’s loss to the powerful Mustangs, who improved to 15-0 on the season. Morningside started the game on a 26-3 run over the first 11 minutes, and IWC finished the game without a point in the final 8:50.
DeVries had 19 points and hit five three-pointers, and Mitchell added 11 points as the two accounted for more than two-thirds of the Tigers’ offense. Angela Brinkmeyer (Jr.-Hubbard, Iowa) led the team with seven rebounds off the bench. Wesleyan had 29 turnovers against the host Mustangs and shot just 34.8% (16 of 46).
IWC now jumps into conference play starting Saturday against Ashford University. The Tigers will host the Saints at 1 p.m. at Ruble Arena in the team’s first home game since a Dec. 6 win against Clarke College.
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.
