No. 18 Taylor Falls to No. 21 IWU
February 21, 2009
The Taylor women's basketball team outscored Indiana Wesleyan by 21 points from the free throw line Saturday, but subpar shooting from the rest of the floor by the Trojans led to a 64-59 IWU victory.
The nation's third-ranked free throw shooting team, Taylor once again kept themselves in the game by shooting 91.7 percent (22-for-24) from the line, including a perfect 8-for-8 from sophomore Allison Reece. Indiana Wesleyan (22-8, 11-5) made just 1 of 5 from the line in the game.
On senior day in Odle Arena for Paige Rudolph and Nikki Kassebaum in their final regular season home game, Rudolph led the Trojans with 15 points and 3 assists in 37 minutes of action.
Taylor (19-10, 10-6) went down 9-2 in the first three minutes of the game after three Indiana Wesleyan 3's, but fought back with a 13-0 run of their own to forge a 15-9 lead with 11:52 remaining. Led by Kayla Thompson's 11 first half points, the Wildcats took a 33-32 lead to the break.
After shooting 36 percent from the floor in the first half, it did not get much better for the Trojans at 38.1 percent in the second half. Indiana Wesleyan finished the game at 53.8 percent from the floor.
A Rudolph driving basket in the lane gave Taylor their largest lead of the second half at 42-39, but an aggressive Indiana Wesleyan offense began to find holes in the Trojan defense and eventually took a three-point lead of their own at 56-53 with 6:46 remaining.
Tasha Marshall knocked down a two-point bucket to close the gap to 1 point, but Taylor then went on a nearly five minute scoring drought and trailed 62-57 with 1:40 left on the clock.
The Trojans cut the IWU lead to 62-59 on a pair of free throws by Rudolph, but Indiana Wesleyan's LeAnn Douglas scored with 16 seconds remaining to ice the game for the Wildcats.
Despite playing in foul trouble for most of the game, Taylor's Allison Reece just narrowly missed her second career double-double by scoring 14 points and collecting 9 rebounds. Junior Bethany Ballard finished the game with 15 points to complete the trio of double figure scorers for Taylor.
Taylor outrebounded IWU 31-25, but shot only 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from three point range compared to 36.8 percent (7-for-19) for the Wildcats.
Thompson led four Wildcats in double figures with a game high 18 points.
The loss for Taylor breaks a streak of 11 straight wins at home, dating back to a November 12 defeat against St. Francis (IL).
Taylor will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming MCC tournament, as they get set to host No. 5 seed Saint Francis (15-15, 8-8) at 7 p.m. next Tuesday in Odle Arena.