McCrea’s miracle lifts IW women

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - Morgan McCrea played the hero role in Iowa Wesleyan's road doubleheader at MacMurray College. Her half-court shot at the buzzer gave the Tiger women a 79-77 overtime win. The men fell 97-87.

McCrea's shot came after a MacMurray free throw rimmed out with less than eight seconds left, to keep the Highlander lead at 77-76. After a scramble, she found herself with the ball and launched it towards the hoop. The ball went in, and the IW bench went into a frenzy.

That wasn't McCrea's only clutch shot of the game. She tied the game on a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, knotting it up at 68-68 to send the game into the extra period.

The Tiger girls led 22-15 after one quarter, 39-30 at halftime and 52-46 after three periods. The Highlanders had come ball the way back to take the lead, only to have their hearts ripped out by a half-court dagger.

Maddie Williamson had a nearly perfect day shooting. She went 10-for-11 from the field and 3-for-3 from 3-point range to lead the team with 25 points and five assists. Allie Massner had 16 points and nine rebounds. Harriet Fowler had 16 points as well. McCrea finished with 14 and Sydney Farrar had eight.

The Tiger men led 40-36 at halftime. IW led by as much as eight points early in the second half, but MacMurray eventually stole the lead and led for most of the final period.

Jarryd Fernandes had a big game in the loss, scoring 30 points. Alex Dentlinger had 21 points and nine rebounds.

Marvin Saintolien scored 11 points. Alberto Torres scored eight. Jake Neubauer and Austin Banks had seven each and Kaleb Cresswell scored three.

The Tiger women are now 5-18 overall and 5-11 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The men are 8-15 overall and 6-10 in the SLIAC. Both teams will go on the road to play Fontbonne University on Wednesday night.