Wheaton College, North Central win CCIW tourneys

The Wheaton College women's basketball team had misfired on all nine 3-point field-goal attempts Saturday in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Tournament championship game.

But Chantal Meacham delivered when it truly mattered.

The Wheaton College senior drained the only 3-pointer the Thunder could convert with 2:23 to play to slice the Illinois Wesleyan lead to a single point.

Jill Berg scored on the next Thunder possession, and Wheaton College never trailed again in its thrilling 66-62 victory over the Titans.

The Thunder will receive the CCIW automatic bid to the 64-team Division III national tournament with its third straight league championship in Wheaton on Saturday night.

North Central won the men's CCIW tournament with a 69-64 victory against Augustana at Carthage College. The Cardinals (17-10) are the first No. 4 seed to win the four-team postseason tournament.

For the Wheaton women, the Berg inside score with 1:31 remaining was the first Thunder lead since former Wheaton Warrenville South standout Maggie Dansdill had back-to-back buckets for only the second Wheaton advantage of the opening half.

"It was a pretty big shot," Meacham said. "If I have an open shot, I'm going to take it. (The coaches) give me the green light. I honestly didn't even know how much time was left."

Katie McDaniels, the leading Wheaton scorer all season who led three players in double figures with 14 points, converted four free throws in the final nine seconds to seal the victory.

The Thunder (23-4) had a 15-2 run after Wesleyan (18-9) matched its largest lead of the game - 8 points - with 5:53 to play.

Ellie Zeller had all 3 of her field goals during the run for Wheaton College.

But it was Berg who was the real heroine for the Thunder.

The freshman post finished with 10 points, and Berg more than compensated for two missed free throws with the last of her game-high 8 blocks to protect a 2-point lead in the last half-minute.

"Our coaches always stress to finish strong," said Berg, whose last field goal gave the Thunder a 60-59 lead. "Free throws have never been my specialty. I know what I'm going to be working on next week."

Up until that point the Thunder had scored to make it a one-possession game seven times in the second half.

But there was not a single deadlock after the Titans' Maddie Merritt had a tip-in seconds before the second-quarter buzzer to give Wesleyan a 31-28 lead at the break.

"We thought for 36 minutes of that ballgame that we played well," Wesleyan coach Mia Smith said. "What a great ballgame to watch, I think. The last four minutes we didn't execute."

Smith expects the Titans to receive an at-large bid to the national tournament.

Dansdill had 8 points for the Thunder.

"We were tired," Dansdill said. "We played a lot of games this week. We were willing to give (up our bodies) until the last play."

Thunder guard Kelly Lawson was 5 for 7 from the floor to augment McDaniels' team-high total with 12 points.

The Titans also had three players in double figures.

Rebekah Ehresman finished with a game-best 16 points.

Merritt and Molly McGraw had 14 and 12 points for Wesleyan.