Chicago, Illinois- Illinois Tech Women's Basketball team hosted Wheaton College on Saturday at Keating Sports Center. Coming into the encounter, Wheaton was ranked 9th in the latest NCAA DIII polls with an 8-1 record with their only loss coming against University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Illinois Tech knew coming into the game they were up against a DIII powerhouse but came out with incredible fight. The first 5 minutes of the first half saw the Scarlet hawks exchanging baskets with Wheaton. The Scarlet Hawk women played with a lot of intensity on the defensive end and were very disruptive when Wheaton was trying to execute their offense. Even though the Scarlet Hawks were hustling on the defensive end of the court, Wheaton managed to get their offense going after the first five minutes due to their superior offensive rebounding. At the half, Wheaton had 20 offensive rebounds while the Scarlet Hawks had 6. Regardless of their inefficiency on the offensive side of the ball; shooting 31.7% from the field, Wheaton went into the half with a 34-11 lead.
The second half proved more efficient for the Scarlet Hawks with the team scoring 26 points, more than doubling their total of 11 points in the first half. Kaylee Wicka got hot in the second half scoring 11 points after struggling with her shot in the first half. Brooke Bell and Rebecca Bell both contributed with five points each in the second half. Wheaton continued to be tough on the boards in the second half along with strong contribution from their bench players; they earned an impressive 69-37 victory which moves them to 9-1 on the season.
The Scarlet Hawks will head into a busy game schedule this week as they face Elmhurst on Monday, Milwaukee School of Engineering on Wednesday, Wisconsin Whitewater on Thursday, and Dominican on Saturday, before a two week break heading into the New Year.