Bloomington, Ill. – The Carroll University Pioneers women's basketball team played well to start the contest, but fell to the Illinois Wesleyan Titans on the road, 57-73. Emily Majerus started her first game of the season and led with 10 points and five assists. Elizabeth Behrndt pulled in a career high 12 rebounds, and Katie Evans generated three steals.
 
Despite ending the game shooting under 40%, the Pioneers (7-12 overall, 3-8 CCIW) shot over 40% in the fourth, and over 45% in the first. However, they struggled to keep up with IWU's 48.2% overall on the afternoon. The size of the Titans overcame our women despite Behrndt's career day. The bench flexed their strength again, with Brooke Foster as the second leading Pioneer scorer with nine points, going 4-4 at the FT line. Wesleyan took advantage of transition defense, and tallied 21 fast break points, including nine in their strong second quarter.
 
The Pioneers shot 47% from the floor to kick off the contest, holding Illinois Wesleyan to only 29%. Majerus (who started in place of Alyssa Cruz who did not dress) started the game with a jumper to kick things off, with the Pios leading by as much as four. Both teams traded baskets, leading to 16-15 lead for the Pios at the end of the quarter. The titans kicked off the second quarter on a 7-2 run to force Lindsay Schultz to call a time out. The timeout failed to stop IWU's momentum, as they continued to create fast breaks and drive to the basket. The Titans outscored the Pioneers 23-9 in the quarter to go up 13. Sierra Grubor (8 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) netted a three point basket to keep the Titans from leading by more than 16 at the time.
 
The titans jumped back out to their largest lead of the game with 16 points midway through the third. The Titans exposed the Pioneers by driving to the bucket and laying in most of their shots. The Pios had enough, and started a 9-0 run before Wesleyan was forced to call a time out. Buckets from Foster, Kate Christian and Katie Evans led the charge. The run proved to be all for not, as the Titans out rebounded the Pios, getting second chance opportunities to take a 59-45 lead into the final quarter. A comeback began to look promising, but five straight turnovers by the women proved costly before falling.
 
The women continue their road trip next week to North Park to take on the Vikings in a highly anticipated rematch. The Pioneers fell to the Vikings in their home conference opener on Dec. 4, 54-62. The Pioneers were able to shut out the top seeded CCIW school in the second quarter of the contest, before the Vikings came back and edged out the women. Sierra Grubor and Alyssa Cruz led with 11 points each in that matchup. Stay up to date on Carroll women's basketball this season by going online to www.gopios.com, or by following the Pioneers on Facebook (Carroll University Athletics), Twitter (@pio_athletics), and Instagram (@pio_athletics).