Tiger women fall by nine

MT. PLEASANT - The Iowa Wesleyan women had their hands full on Saturday against a Fontbonne University team that came in 5-2 in the conference. After being down at halftime, the Tigers rallied in the fourth quarter to make it a nine-point game, but the Griffins walkde out with a 73-64 win.

The Tigers struggled to find their rhythm from the field in the first quarter. IW missed shot after shot, and the Griffins led 19-10 after 10 minutes of play.

IW was down by 18 points with a minute and a half left in the second quarter, but cut the lead down to 12 after two straight Maddie Williamson layups and a jumper by Allie Massner. At the break, Fontbonne led 41-29.

The Griffins held IW to just 12 points in the third quarter and stretched their lead to 65-41 after three quarters. The Tigers saved their best quarter for last, winning the fourth period 23-8 to cut the lead down to single digits.

'It was kind of like the weather outside today,” IW coach Temaine Wright. 'It was cold inside that gym. But that's just part of it. I think towards the end we found a way to battle through it, but we've got to come out better.”

Williamson finished the night with 20 points ,eight rebounds and three steals to lead the Tigers. Massner scored 16 points and Harriet Fowler had 15.

Morgan McCrea and Sydney Farrar ended the game with four poitns apiece. Kieley Allen had three, and Deericka Martin scored two.

IW (2-12, 2-5) will now prepare for three-straight conference road games. The first of those is today (Monday) at Greenville University.