Sport in world

Western falls to hot-shooting IPFW, 69-57

March 12, 2008 on 8:00 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. Senior Stephanie Lovingood recorded her fourth double-double of the season, but it was not enough to push the Western Illinois women’s basketball team past IPFW as they fell 69-57 on Waste Management Court at Western Hall.

Lovingood tallied a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Sarah Miller added 10 points for the Westerwinds (9-11, 7-2 The Summit League). Western is now in a tie for first place in the league standings with South Dakota State.

“I really felt like Stephanie Lovingood was back on her game,” said head coach Leslie Crane. “It was also nice to see Sarah Miller step up and do some good things for us.”

Both teams scored early, with the Mastodon’s (9-11, 6-3 The Summit League) Johnna Lewis-Carlisle starting the game with a three-point shot 17 seconds into the first half. The Westerwinds quickly responded with a jumper by sophomore Jordon O’Brien just 30 seconds later, but that would be as close as Western would come throughout the game.

IPFW then started a 6-0 run to push the lead to six points before the Westerwinds responded with a 4-0 run to cut the advantage to two, with 17:45 remaining in the opening stanza.

Over the next two minutes the Mastodons held Western scoreless and pushed their lead out to 12 points. Freshman Lindsey Wutt cut the lead to 10 with15:34 remaining, but IPFW again went on a run and pulled out to a 17-point lead over the next 4:30.

The Mastodons continued to increase their advantage, going up by as many as 26, with 3:22 remaining in the first half. The Westerwinds then went on a 6-0 run of their own to finish the half down by 20 (40-20).

“Well you can’t spot any team 20 points and expect to come out on top,” said Crane. “The team kept fighting though. The last five minutes of the first half and the second half we played very well, but it was too big of a hill to climb.”

Both teams opened the second half with strong defense, holding each other without a bucket until two minutes into the period. IPFW built its lead back to 25 with 13:37 remaining before junior Katy Davenport tallied five-straight points, starting a 19-6 run over an eight-minute span to cut the lead to 12.

The Mastodons then pushed the lead back out to 22 with 2:54 remaining in the game before Western ended the game with a 10-0 run.

IPFW had a strong shooting night as they recorded a 51.9 shooting percentage, including a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line. The Westerwinds tallied a 37.3 shooting percentage on the night, including a 44.4% mark in the second half.

Western next faces Southern Utah, Saturday, February 2 at 4:30 p.m. on Waste Management Court at Western Hall. The game is the start of the second round of play in The Summit League and the third-straight home game for Western.

“We need to make sure that we don’t let these two games dictate what we do in February. We need to have a strong finish and win as many games as we can to get ourselves into a good position in the conference tournament.”

Originaly from Source