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SIOUX CITY, Iowa – An early 14-0 run propelled No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball to an 84-64 victory over Bryan (Tenn.) in the NAIA DII National Championship Round of 32 in Sioux City, Iowa. The Wildcats dominated play in the paint and drilled 11 3-pointers to halt the Bryan 30-game win streak.

FAST START

Bryan scored on their opening possession but it was all Indiana Wesleyan after that. IWU scored the next 14 points en route to a 24-15 lead after the first quarter. The hot start rolled over in to the second quarter where Indiana Wesleyan outscored Bryan 22-13 and headed into halftime leading 46-28. Nicole Ignasiak and Margot Woughter led the attack with 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting.

DOMINANT ALL NIGHT

Indiana Wesleyan led by double digits for the final 24 minutes of play and built a lead as high as 26 points (68-42) in the third quarter. The IWU inside-out game was too much for the Lions as the Wildcats held a 34-12 advantage in points in the paint while hitting 42.3-percent from 3-point range on 11-of-26 shooting.

HITTING ON ALL CYLYNDERS

The Wildcats finished the evening shooting 53.2-percent (33 of 62) from the field. The Lions entered play holding opponents to 36.4-percent shooting on the season and did not allow an opponent to shoot over 50-percent in any game this season. Martin Methodist (Tenn.) had the best shooting effort against the Lions at 49.3-percent.

STREAK SNAPPERS

Bryan saw their 30-game win streak snapped with the loss. It is just the second loss for the Lions this season and first since a 79-65 loss to Martin Methodist on November 2, 2018.

WHALEY PERSPECTIVE

“I thought we did a lot of things well but we still could have been a lot better. This is a team that if you let them run their offense they are really good and efficient. But we held them to 38-percent shooting and 17 turnovers. I thought we were disruptive and we made it really tough for them to score on the offensive end.”

“I was really proud of Margot. Tonight she showed why she was the Crossroads League Newcomer of the Year and All-Crossroads League. She did a lot more than make shots for us as she was really good defensively and she was really good at getting other people open.”

NEXT FOR THE WILDCATS

Indiana Wesleyan advances to the NAIA National Championship Round of 16 and meets No. 1-seed Northwestern (Iowa). Tip-off for the contest is 8 p.m. ET on Friday at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.