BOXSCORE
Bloomington, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team lost at seventh-ranked Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night, 85-69. The Thunder had its seven-game winning streak ended in the loss, as the Thunder are now 11-4 overall and 4-1 in the CCIW. The Titans improve to 13-3 on the season, with a 5-0 record in conference play. The Thunder will return to action at 5 PM on Saturday night in a conference meeting at Elmhurst.
The Titans broke a 4-4 tie at the 16:45 mark of the first half with a 14-3 run that gave the hosts an 18-7 lead at 13:10 remaining before halftime. IWU led the Thunder 46-37 at halftime.
Wheaton scored the first five points of the second half to cut the hosts' advantage to 46-42 with 18:10 remaining in regulation. The Titans responded with 10 un-answered points to increase their lead to 56-42 with 15:50 remaining in the game. The Titans led 62-51 with 12:15 left when the Thunder put together a string of nine un-answered points, including five points from Laura Karsten to cut the IWU lead to 62-60 with 10:10 left in the game. The Titans responded with 12 consecutive points to increase their lead to 74-60 with 7:00 left in the game. The Titan run was enough to keep the hosts in the lead for the remainder of the night.
Karsten led the Thunder with 26 points as she shot 8-for-11 from the field, including four three-pointers. She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Brooke Olson scored 10 points and Maris Hovee added eight points, with seven rebounds. Elisabeth Potts and Annie Bowen each scored seven points and Bowen added five rebounds.
Stacey Arlis led Illinois Wesleyan with 22 points and eight rebounds. Olivia Lett scored 19 points, with seven assists and Melissa Gardner added 11 points.
The Thunder shot 41.3% (19-46) from the floor with 30% (6-20) from behind the three-point arc and 86.2% (25-29) at the free throw line. The Titans posted a 50.8% (33-65) field goal percentage, 36% (9-25) from three-point range and 58.8% (10-17) at the charity stripe. The Titans held a 39-26 edge in rebounding with an 18-8 advantage on the offensive glass.
