ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst women's basketball team kicked off the CCIW portion of its schedule with by pulling away late for a 66-49 win over Carroll University.
 
Elmhurst (3-3, 1-0 CCIW) led by just one point after the opening quarter at 16-15, but the Bluejays outscored Carroll (1-5, 0-1 CCIW) 20-13 in the second quarter to take a 36-28 lead at the half. Carroll hit the opening bucket of the second quarter to take a 17-167 lead, but it was the last time the Pioneers led for the game as Elmhurst ripped off 12 straight points to take a 28-17 lead. The Bluejays cashed in on Carroll's 15 first-half turnovers, scoring 17 points off the mistakes. Elmhurst also scored 14 points in transition in the game's first 20 minutes.
 
Carroll started the third quarter with a 9-2 run, cutting Elmhurst's lead down to just one point as the Bluejays went cold for the first six minutes of action. Free throws by Jasmin Bailey and a three-pointer from Kaela Jones brought Elmhurst's lead back to six points with 3:18 left. The Bluejays pushed their lead back to 10 points and carried a 49-41 lead into the final quarter.
 
Carroll sliced the deficit down to five points with 6:29 remaining on the clock, but the Pioneers scored just one point for the remainder of the contest as Elmhurst closed with a 13-1 run to pull away for the 17-point victory.
 
Turnovers and missed free throws plagued both squads. Carroll turned the ball over 29 times resulting in 32 points for the Bluejays. The Pioneers shot 8-of-18 from the free throw line (44.4 percent). The Bluejays gave the ball away 25 times leading to 21 points for Carroll. Elmhurst also struggled from the foul line, hitting just 8-of-17 attempts (47.1 percent).

Elmhurst shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the floor, including 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from beyond the arc. Jones paced Elmhurst with a game-high double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds. Mikaela Eppard added 16 points and nine rebounds while Hannah Henderson and Bailey totaled eight points apiece.
 
Carroll shot 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from the field, but just 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) from long distance. Brittney Wald and Delaney Sjong paced Carroll with nine points apiece in the loss.
 
Elmhurst hosts Augustana College on Wednesday, December 6.