Tigers Advance In USCAA Tournament
The Iowa Wesleyan women's basketball team opened the USCAA National Basketball Championship tournament against Carlow University in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. For the first time in three years, the Tigers picked up a win in the quarterfinal game to advance to the second round of the tournament. Iowa Wesleyan defeated Carlow 54-36 to advance to Friday's semifinal action and will face Rochester College.
It took a while for both teams to get their offenses going to start the game. Dakota Flesner (SR/Payson, IL) scored the first basket of the game with a layup. With 6:18 to go in the opening period, Rachel Williams (SR/Phoenix, AZ) drained a three pointer to bring the score to 5-2 in favor of the Tigers. The Iowa Wesleyan defense held Carlow University to just two points until 3:34 remaining in the first quarter, but the Tiger offense held a 7-4 lead at that point. Iowa Wesleyan closed the quarter with two three pointers by Kaylee Moseley (SR/Taylor Ridge, IL) to hold a 13-6 advantage.
Breanna Hall (SR/Riverside, IA) and Kaylee Moseley each hit three pointers to open the second quarter for the Tigers. With 6:26 left in the half, Kaylee Moseley sank her fourth three pointer of the game and extended the IW lead to 22-8. The Iowa Wesleyan offense struggled to make shots the remainder of the quarter. Rachel Williams hit a free throw with 4:39 to go and that would be the end of the scoring for the Tigers in the second quarter. Carlow ended the half on a 7-0 run, but Iowa Wesleyan held a 23-15 lead at the end of the first half.
Iowa Wesleyan started the third quarter off slow, and Carlow cut the lead to three points. The Tigers were forced to call a timeout before the first media timeout of the half. Dakota Flesner made two layups for the Tigers to extend their lead to seven points. Carlow hit two free throws with 5:46 remaining in the quarter to bring the score to 27-22. Iowa Wesleyan went on a 13-0 run before the Celtics scored again. Carlow made a layup with 34 seconds left in the quarter, and Iowa Wesleyan held a 40-26 lead at the end of the period.
Dakota Flesner scored the first basket of the fourth period with 8:41 left in the game. The Tiger defense held the Celtics scoreless for just shy of the first three minutes of the final period. Carlow finally made a layup with 7:14 to go, but Dakota Flesner had an answer for the Tigers on the next possession to bring the score to 47-28. The Celtics scored three unanswered points before Rachel Williams drained a three pointer to extend the Tiger lead to twenty points. Breanna Hall sank a three pointer with 3:10 remaining for the final Tiger basket of the game. Carlow would score just three more points the rest of the game, and Iowa Wesleyan went on to win 54-36.
Iowa Wesleyan was led in scoring by Kaylee Moseley, who finished the game 5-8 from behind the three point line for 15 points. Dakota Flesner had a huge game for the Tigers, recording a double-double of 14 points and 19 rebounds (15 offensive). Breanna Hall finished with 9 points on 3-8 shooting from behind the arc. Rachel Williams grabbed 11 boards and finished with 7 points. Aimee Iverson (SR/Sherrard, IL) led the Tigers in assists with 4 and also chipped in 7 points.
The Tigers next game will be Friday, March 4. They will take on the number six seed, Rochester College at 1:00 pm EST in the main arena. The games will be streamed live at basketball.theuscaa.com/live.