Women win, men fall to Ashford

The Iowa Wesleyan College women?s basketball team jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first 12 minutes and never looked back on their way to defeating Ashford University 67-40 Saturday afternoon at Ruble Arena.

The win moves the Tigers to 16-9 overall and 12-4 in the MCC. Ashford falls to 9-18 overall and 5-11 in conference play. The Tigers remain in sole possession of third place in the MCC standings.

The Tigers used a stifling defense to hold Ashford scoreless for most of the first half. Meanwhile, Ashley Kruse led four IWC players in double figures, scoring with 20 points and adding seven rebounds. Anna Jones posted her eighth double-double finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds and also added seven assists and four steals. Adilene Villalobos added 14 points off the bench and Samantha Hodge chipped in 10.

Iowa Wesleyan finished shooting 45.1 percent for the game (23 of 51) but lost the rebounding battle 47-40. Ashford shot 24.3 percent (17-for-70) and was led by Deana Bledsoe with 10 points.

The Tiger women continue their quest for second place in the MCC when they host Mt. Mercy University on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

In the men?s game on Saturday, Ashford University took a clean season sweep of IWC with a narrow 69-68 win over the Tigers.

Despite a halftime lead, the Tigers fell behind with 15:44 to go in the second half and could not regain the lead. Jeremy Simmons brought the Tigers within two points after he made two free throws with seven seconds left to play, but the Tigers still couldn?t quite catch up.

Kyle Warner led the Tigers with 29 points and seven rebounds. Simmons had 12 points for the afternoon for IWC. Donnie Osborne and Davis Warner both had four assists.

The men will also be home Wednesday night against Mt. Mercy University. Their game will start at 7:30 p.m.

The game will have a live broadcast and video available online at http://www.iwc.edu/onlinemedia.