MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - The Luther women's basketball team closed out the Cornell Classic with an 87-79 loss to Illinois Wesleyan on Sunday. Chelin Isaacson led the Norse with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

The Norse had a big first quarter thanks to a shooting percentage of 70 percent going 14-20 from the field. Kenlin Schmitt helped put Luther up by 11 after a successful layup at the buzzer for a 30-19 lead.

The second quarter was dominated by the Titans as they erased the deficit. Illinois Wesleyan limited the Luther to just six points in the quarter. Both of which were threes from Jordan Rubie and Isaacson. The Titans led 47-36 at halftime.

The Norse outscored the Titans 23-21 in third quarter. But Luther was still down by nine points with one quarter to go.

In the final quarter of play a layup by Lizzie Kauls pulled the Norse within five points with 8:48 left on the clock. Luther kept fighting to the end but Illinois Wesleyan took the victory.

Luther shot 47.1 percent from the floor with 42 of the points scored were in the paint.

TOP NORSE

• Isaacson was named to the All-Tournament team.
• Kailey Jones had 14 points and four rebounds. 
• Haylie Strum recorded 13 points in her first double digit scoring effort of her career.

UP NEXT
The Norse host the University of Northwestern (MN) for their home opener on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.