MIDLAND, Mich. – The Kentucky Wesleyan women's basketball team was defeated 82-69 by Northwood Saturday afternoon.
Wesleyan now trails the all-time series 4-3 and has fallen in the last four matchups. The Timberwolves (21-5, 17-1 G-MAC) have now won 11 straight games and are atop the conference heading into the final week of the regular season.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle. Riley Neal poured in eight points and Carson Sisk added seven to help the Panthers to just a one-point deficit at 17-16 headed into the second.
An Emma Bruwer three-pointer off an assist by Lena Stinebrickner put Wesleyan up 26-24 early in the second, but that's where things began to go wrong for the Panthers. Northwood scored the next 11 points to build a 35-26 advantage with under four minutes left in the half.
The Timberwolves extended their lead to 43-32 going into the break. Neal scored KWC's final six points of the half to keep the Panthers in it.
Northwood maintained a similar advantage for the majority of the third quarter. In the late going, after a Neal three-pointer cut the Panthers deficit to eight at 55-47, the home team closed on an 11-5 run to take full control at 66-52 headed into the final frame.
The Timberwolves increased their lead to 18 early in the fourth, and that would about wrap it up in Midland as Northwood prevailed 82-69.
Neal totaled 21 points on 8-15 shooting and pulled down five rebounds. Bruwer added 19 points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Sisk had the best game of her career with 18 points and five rebounds on 8-12 shooting in a team-high 27 minutes.
Wesleyan has one more regular season contest left. The Panthers will battle in-state rival Thomas More on Saturday, February 28th, inside Jones Gym on the campus of KWC with tipoff set for 12:00 PM. Fans can watch live on FloCollege or listen on 94.7 WBIO.
Visit kwcpanthers.com/give today to make a gift to Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics! Gifts can be directed to general athletics, our athletic endowment, or any of our 14 NCAA Division II programs.
Stay up to date on all your Panther news by following @KWCPanthers on X and Instagram and by liking the "Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics" Facebook page. Also, the Panthers Mobile App is available on iTunes and Android featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more.
