IW women win, men lose at Principia

ELSAH, Ill. - Both Iowa Wesleyan basketball teams were in a halftime hole on Saturday at Principia but only one of them was able to dig itself out far enough to get a win. The Tiger women stormed back from a double-digit halftime deficit to knock off the Panthers 68-63. The men had their rally fall short, dropping the game 80-73.

The IW women led 15-10 after the first quarter, but Principia had a huge second period to grab the lead and stretch it all the way to 13 points. Principia led 34-21 at the break.

The Tigers came storming back in the second half, eclipsing 20 points in each of the final two quarters. IW won the third quarter 26-18 to bring the deficit down to seven points, at 52-45.

The Tigers stared the final period on an 11-5 run, and Maddie Williamson gave IW its first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer that made it 57-56 Tigers with 5:24 remaining.

Principia took the lead back less than a minute later, and IW didn't go ahead again until the last minute of the game. With the game tied at 61-61 and 55 seconds showing on the clcok, Morgan McCrea hit a 3 that put IW up 64-61. That would be the last lead change of the game.

Princicpia did cut the lead to one point on a jump shot from Sophia Hathaway. IW closed the game out with four-straight points of their own, as Sydney Farrar and Allie Massner hit two free throws apiece to ice the contest.

McCrea led IW with 21 points, six assists and three steals in the win. Massner scored 18. Williamson had 15. Farrar finished with 10, and both Da'Jaah Swolley and Harriet Fowler scored two.

The Tiger men trailed 41-32 at the half. Principia hit the first shot of the second half to take their lead to 43-32 before the Tigers began to claw back.

Marvin Saintolien hit a 3-pointer to jumpstart the Tiger offense, and that sparked a valliant comeback attempt. The Tigers cut the lead all the way to one point, at 44-43, when Jake Neubauer hit a 3 with 15:29 left.

The Tigers cut the Panther advantage back down to one possession on several different occasions, but could never take a lead of their own. Principia pulled away late, leading by as much as 11 in the final three minutes.

Neubauer went for a team-high 23 points and three steals in the win. Jarryd Fernandes finished the night with a double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Alex Dentlinger scored 11 points to give the Tigers three double-digit scorers.

Austin Banks had seven points and eight assists in the loss. Marvin Saintolien scored six points. Kaleb Cresswell had five points, and Alberto Torres scored four.

The IW women are now 3-14 overall and 3-6 in the St. Louis InterColletgiate Athletic Conference. The men are 6-10 overall and 3-5 in the SLIAC. Both teams will be back home on Wednesday, January 29 to face Westminster.