Tigers basketball wins pair

The Iowa Wesleyan men’s and women’s basketball teams both saw some success to begin the week.

On Saturday, the Tiger women defeated Northern New Mexico College, 78-59, while the men were winners on Monday against Crowley’s Ridge College, 83-58.

The Tigers started the game off strong, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead.

They didn't stop there. The Tigers kept pounding the ball in the paint making it 17-7 with four minutes to go in the opening period.

While battling back-and-forth through the rest of the quarter, a layup by Brielle Baker off an offensive rebound gave the Tigers a 25-17 lead to end the quarter.

With tough defense by both teams to start the second quarter, free throws from Isabell West opened up scoring after three minutes of play.

With just five minutes to go in the first half and following a slew of layups, the Tigers lead grew by 13 points to 34-21.

The Tigers finished the half with a 43-27 advantage.

Maci Kuchta opened up the second half with a three pointer for the Tigers, but the Eagles weren't finished yet.

The Eagles managed to cut the Tigers 19 point lead down to 10 with just five minutes remaining in the third.

Not long after, the Tigers managed to go on a 10-2 run of their own and after thirty minutes of action the score was 59-43.

The Tigers held onto their lead the rest of the way out.

The win brings Iowa Wesleyan’s record to 17-6 overall and 7-0 in conference play.

Isabell West led the Tigers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. She was followed by Breille Baker, Breanna Wendland, and Megan Teal who all scored 10 points.

Iowa Wesleyan Tigers will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 9 at home against Columbia College. The game is set for 5:30 p.m.

The Tiger boys’ got some redemption after suffering a tough overtime loss the night prior.

Iowa Wesleyan’s Carver Locke opened the game with a three, which sparked a 7-0 run through the first four minutes of play.

The Tigers were able to force the Pioneers into turnovers early but they found a way to come within five points with just over twelve minutes left in the first half.

That would be as close as the Pioneers would come.

At the halfway mark of the first half, Henry Shannon started to put his mark on the game with a pair of layups and a block on the defensive end.

Tigers would stretch their lead over the next 10 minutes. At the end of the half, the lead grew to 16 with a score of 44-28 powered by 12 assists on 17 made field goals.

The Tigers struggled in the second half from beyond the arc, but would knock down their free throws shooting 15-18 from the stripe.

In the first two minutes, the lead was extended to 20 after a trip to the free-throw line by Gacoby Jones. With just 10 minutes to go in the contest, the Tigers held a 60-41 lead.

The ending stages of the game was all Iowa Wesleyan as they stretched the lead to 29 points in the final minutes.

Iowa Wesleyan was led offensively by Locke with a game and season-high of 19 points. Francis Okwuosah put up 17 points and 11 rebounds to give him his first double-double of the year. Joey Brown IV and Henry Shannon both ended the night scoring 12 points and hauling in eight rebounds for the Tigers with Hakeem Odunsi close behind scoring 11 points and pulling down six rebounds off the bench.

The Tigers move to 22-2 overall and 6-1 in conference.