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Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 8, 2012)-- North Central College grabbed an early lead but was unable to weather a late first half scoring surge by host Illinois Wesleyan University, falling by a 95-54 count to the 25th-ranked Titans on Wednesday inside the Shirk Center in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin women's basketball game.

Sophie Newson drilled a layup with 16:32 remaining in the opening half, giving the Cardinals (6-16, 0-11 CCIW) a 10-9 lead and sparking a 12-4 run for the visitors. Emily Collins and Jenny Swanson canned threes during the spurt while Maryssa Cladis converted a layup with just under 14 minutes to go, giving North Central its largest lead of the game at 20-13.

The nationally-ranked Titans (17-5, 10-1 CCIW) responded over the next eight minutes, tallying 26 of the next 28 points to secure a comfortable 17-point edge. IWU bumped its advantage to 53-27 at the half and enjoyed at least a 25-point buffer the entire second half.

Newson paced the Cardinal offense, finishing with nine points while Cladis came off the bench and chipped in eight points. Collins grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Olivia Lett led the Titans with 23 points and eight rebounds while dishing out five assists. Melissa Gardner added 16 points while Michelle Bilek added 14.

The Cardinals return to the hardwood on Saturday, hosting Wheaton College at 5:30 p.m. inside Gregory Arena in the team's penultimate home game of the year.