Mount Pleasant — Tournament host and top-seeded Iowa Wesleyan University earned a decisive 84-59 victory against No. 2 seed Haskell Indian Nations University (Kansas) Sunday to win the 2022 Continental Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament championship.
The Tigers took control of the game early, jumping out to a 22-9 first-quarter lead. They followed with 21-point efforts in the second and third quarters to take a commanding 64-44 lead into the final 10-minute period.
The hosts followed with another consistent quarter by scoring 20 points to close out the impressive tournament performance.
Iowa Wesleyan made 49% of their field goals in the contest and connected on 10 3-point field goals.
All five of the team’s starters were double-figure scorers, led by Brittany West’s 24 points. Kyla Moore drained five 3-pointers to add 19 points. Breanna Wendland piled on 16 points while Maci Kuchta and Brielle Baker chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Haskell Indian Nations shot 44.4% but were outrebounded by a 34-22 margin in the contest. Mahpiya Irving came off the bench to score 11 points to lead the team. Tiana Guillory and Marylin Goodman each contributed nine points.
Iowa Wesleyan and Haskell Indian Nations will both represent the CAC as automatic qualifiers to the NAIA national tournament.