BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Elmhurst women's basketball team could not overcome first half turnovers in a 71-56 road loss at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Elmhurst (18-6, 10-5 CCIW) was plagued by turnovers in the opening half. The Bluejays gave the ball away 19 times in the game's first 20 minutes and Illinois Wesleyan (17-6, 12-2 CCIW) capitalized on the mistakes, cashing in the 19 turnovers into 27 points. 

The Bluejays never led in the contest as IWU built a quick eight-point lead after the opening quarter. The Titans started to pull away in a dominant second quarter, outscoring the Bluejays 25-11 to carry a 22-point lead (49-27) into the locker room at halftime. 

Elmhurst slowly chipped away at the Titans lead in the second half, closing to within 13 points with a 13-4 run to start the third quarter. The Titans managed to push their lead back to 19 points at the end of three quarters. Elmhurst made one last run to start the fourth quarter, using a 12-4 over the first 3:30 to close to within 11 points. The Titans responded by scoring the next six points to push their lead back to 17 points before holding on for the 15-point victory.

Elmhurst shot an impressive 55.0 percent from the floor in the loss, hitting 22-of-40 attempts. The Bluejays struggled from downtown, hitting just 2-of-13 attempts beyond the arc (15.4 percent). Elmhurst finished with 32 turnovers, resulting in 37 points for the Titans. 

Mikaela Eppard paced Elmhurst in the loss, finishing with 27 points and six rebounds while shooting 12-of-15 from the floor. Kaela Jones added nine points for the Bluejays in the loss. 

The Titans finished the contest shooting 42.2 percent from the floor (27-of-64), including 50.0 percent (3-of-6) from beyond the arc. Four players reached double figures in scoring to pace the Titans. Gabby Weber led the way with 17 points while Molly McGraw and Ashley Schneider scored 11 points apiece. Maddie Merritt added 10 points and six boards for the Titans.

Elmhurst, who clinched a CCIW tournament spot over the weekend, wraps up the 2016-17 regular season by traveling to Millikin University on Tuesday, February 21.