Eva King scored three goals and dished out a pair of assists during the first half to lead Colorado College to a 15-12 victory over Illinois Wesleyan University in a key West Region matchup on Saturday afternoon in Memphis.

CC, ranked No. 17 in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's preseason Division III coaches poll, improved to 2-0 with its second of back-to-back wins this weekend over teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament.

With five points in the game, King climbed into a tie for fifth place on the program's career list with Kelli Kessler (1997-00), who finished her career with 221.

King produced four points during a 9-2 barrage that gave the Tigers a 10-4 lead with 2:28 remaining in the first half. Maggie O'Donnell generated a goal and two assists during the pivotal run.

After IWU's Maggie Torres scored the third of her team-leading four goals with 1:13 to play, Molly Dibble struck for the first time to give Colorado College an 11-6 lead after 30 minutes.

A goal by Bridget O'Malley trimmed the Illinois Wesleyan deficit to five a little more than seven minutes into the second half, but CC answered with goals by Avery Bell and Dibble to build a 13-6 cushion with 17:56 remaining in the game.

With most of Colorado College's starters off the field, the Titans closed the gap with a 6-2 surge during the final 16 minutes.

The CC defense caused 13 of IWU's 24 turnovers and the Titans were successful on only nine of 19 clearing attempts.

Alena Stern made five saves during the first half for the Tigers. In her collegiate debut, Natalie Slade stopped four shots during the final 30 minutes.

In addition to her three goals, O'Malley picked up a game-high 10 draw controls.

Illinois Wesleyan scored half of its goals on free-position shots.
  
   
Colorado College Standouts
Annie Tucker finished with two goals and an assist.
Maggie Shields led the CC defense with three caused turnovers.
Bella Beattie and Abigail Turner picked up three ground balls.

Illinois Wesleyan Standouts
Cassandra Jones produced two goals and an assist, and five draw controls.
Janaye Godfrey made 12 saves for the Titans.

Notes
Colorado College finished with 25-12 advantage in ground balls and a 35-32 edge in total shots.
The Tigers lead the all-time series with Illinois Wesleyan, 3-0.
CC improved to 2-0.
IWU is 0-1.
 
Next for the Tigers
Colorado College is idle until Monday, March 9, when the Tigers kick off an 11-game home stand against No. 5 Wesleyan University on Washburn Field at 4 p.m.