Wheaton Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College women's basketball team dropped to 10-9 overall and 3-5 in CCIW play after falling 75-74 to Wheaton College in the game's closing seconds.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half and 11 in the second half, the Bluejays battled back to take the lead with under seven minutes to play. Wheaton knotted the score at 70-all with 2:15 remaining. A jumper by Lyndsie Long put the Bluejays up by two, and after a Wheaton miss, Megan Ney knocked down a jumper to give Elmhurst a 74-70 lead with 1:07 to play.

On Wheaton's next possession, Annie Bowen hit a put-back and was fouled in the process. Bowen hit the free throw to cut Elmhurst's lead down to just one point with 50 seconds left. After an Elmhurst miss, Wheaton's Jamie Jones drove to the basket and hit a lay-up with seven seconds remaining to give the Thunder the 75-74 lead. Ney's jumper at the buzzer fell short allowing Wheaton (12-7, 7-1 CCIW) to escape with the victory.

Elmhurst outshot Wheaton 47.0 percent (31-of-66) to 45.9 percent (28-of-61). The Bluejays shot 30.0 percent (3-of-10) from downtown, while Wheaton shot only 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from 3-point range. Free throw shooting proved to be a deciding factor as Wheaton converted 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) attempts, while the Bluejays struggled, hitting just 9-of-17 from the foul line (52.9 percent).

Elmhurst dominated on the glass, outrebounding Wheaton 43-40. The Bluejays enjoyed a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass.

Long finished the game with a career-high 33 points on 14-of-22 shooting. She pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds while adding three assists and three steals in the loss. Meghan Merklein added 13 points and nine rebounds, while Brittany Bobruk totaled nine points and seven boards. Bobruk needs only three more points to reach 1,000 for her career. Ney added eight points in the loss.

Wheaton was led by Kathleen Fidelia's 21 points (6-of-16 shooting) and nine rebounds. Lynnea Kvam added 14 points while Lisa Ballenger finished with 10 points. Bowen and Lindsey Brenneman each finished with nine.

Elmhurst will look to snap its three game-skid when the Bluejays travel to Augustana College on Saturday, February 7.