WHEATON, Ill.— Despite some heroics from Alexis Jones (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.), Augustana suffered a heartbreaking 76-75 overtime setback to Illinois Wesleyan Friday in CCIW Tournament semifinal action at King Arena. The Titans won it with two free throws after being fouled on a half-court shot with 0.2 seconds left in overtime. The Vikings finished the year 14-13, while IWU (19-8) moves on to the tournament championship game versus host Wheaton on Saturday, February 29.
 
With two seconds left in regulation, Kendall Sosa drove for a layup that gave Wesleyan its first lead (61-59) of the fourth quarter. After a timeout that advanced the ball to its front court, Augustana inbounded to Jones, who drilled an 18-footer from the right baseline to send the game to overtime.
 
The Vikings drew first blood in the extra session on a Gabriela Loiz (Alleman HS, Davenport, Iowa) layup. After the Titans went ahead 64-63 on a Sosa three-pointer, Mia Lambert (Macomb HS, Macomb, Ill.) answered with one of her own and Augustana would maintain its lead until the 25-second mark.
 
Sosa's conventional three-point play with 25 seconds left gave IWU a 72-71 advantage, but Jones threw in a circus shot from the right side with 14 seconds left to regain the lead for the Vikings. Two Sosa charity tosses at the 12-second mark put the Titans up 74-73, but they fouled Jones in the lane with two seconds on the clock. The senior came through again, calmly sinking both free throws for a 75-74 Augustana lead.
 
Brooke Lansford took the inbounds pass and rushed the ball up the right side. Her prayer from half court was off the mark, but a whistle put her at the line for three free throws with 0.2 seconds left. She hit the first to tie and the second for the lead. She was called for a violation after failing to hit the rim with her third try, but Augustana's inbounds pass was tipped away at the final buzzer.
 
The fifth-seeded Vikings led for all but 2½ minutes of the first half. Justice Edell (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) had eight points in the first quarter and her layup gave Augustana a 20-16 advantage at the end of the period. Lansford's free throw with 48 seconds left in the half gave second-seeded IWU just its second lead of the night. The Titans took that advantage to the lock room at intermission.
 
A see-saw third quarter saw nine lead changes and two ties before a 9-0 Viking run gave them their biggest lead of the night. Two Daina Riser (Lake Park HS, Medinah, Ill.) free throws sparked the spurt, which was capped by a Lambert trey at the 1:27 mark that put Augustana up 49-41. A Sosa triple and a Riley Brovelli free throw pulled the Titans to within 49-45 after three periods.
 
Augustana led 59-53 with 2½ minutes left in regulation, but IWU scored six straight and tied it at 59-all on two Sosa free throws with a minute left.
 
Jones snared a tournament-record 21 rebounds, just one shy of Deb Geddeis' 1975 school record. She also shared Viking scoring honors (14 points each) with Macy Beinborn (Pleasant Valley HS, Bettendorf, Iowa), had a game-high six assists and a team-best four steals—matched by Lauren Hall (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.). Loiz finished with 13 points and Edell added 10.
 
Sosa tallied a game-high 28 points for the Titans and Sydney Shanks had 21 points, 13 rebounds and nine steals.
 
Augustana outshot IWU from the field (.422 to .393), three-point range (.364 to .211) and the free throw line (.813 to .686) and outrebounded the Titans by a 51-31 margin. However, the Vikings committed 30 turnovers to 18 for IWU.