Box Score

Rock Island, Ill. - The Wheaton College women's basketball team earned its sixth-straight win and stayed undefeated in conference play with a 71-57 victory at Augustana College on Tuesday.

The Thunder improved its record to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in the CCIW. The Vikings fall to 4-10 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

Both teams battled back-and-forth in the first half, exchanging the lead seven times with four ties. But in the last minute of the half, Laura Karsten hit a three-pointer and Kelly Brooks nailed a jumper to put Wheaton up 32-27 at the break. Karsten did much of the heavy lifting on offense, going 6-for-7 from the field to score 15 points in the first 20 minutes.

With the lead in hand going into the second half, the Thunder would never trail again and slowly built its advantage to double digits in the initial eight minutes. The deficit never dipped below 12 points for the final 11 minutes of the game.

The Thunder ended up shooting 23 of 59 from the field (39 percent), 6 of 19 from beyond the arc (32 percent) and 19 of 24 from the charity stripe (79 percent). Karsten also made 4-for-6 from three-point range along with six rebounds. Brooke Olson was 10-for-10 from the free throw line and ended up with 17 points and five assists. The senior post duo of Brooks (12 points, eight rebounds) and Annie Bowen (eight points, 10 rebounds) flexed their muscle in the post  as the rebounding battle ended 44-43 in favor of Augustana.

The Vikings shot 24 of 71 (34 percent) overall for the game, 5 of 20 (25 percent) from three-point range and only 4 of 8 (50 percent) from the free throw line. Kristen Fox tallied team-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds. Elizabeth Phillips added 12 points.

The Thunder return home to King Arena for a 5:00 PM game on Saturday against North Park University.