BOXSCORE

Bloomington, Ill. - A clutch three-pointer by Elisabeth Potts in the final minute gave the No. 2-seed Wheaton College women's basketball team a 58-55 victory over No. 3-seed Millikin University in the CCIW Tournament Semifinals on Friday.

The Thunder (19-6) advance to the championship game to face either No. 1-seed Illinois Wesleyan University (22-4) at 7:00 PM on Saturday. The Big Blue end their season at 17-9.

Coming into the game, Wheaton had already defeated Millikin twice this year - 62-59 at King Arena and 87-51 in Decatur. The Thunder jumped out fast with a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes, and the Big Blue got back into it by scoring seven-straight points. Wheaton then pushed its advantage to 25-13 with four minutes left. But Millikin would not go away and closed the gap to 30-25 at halftime.

The Big Blue controlled the boards in the opening 20 minutes (19-14) and outshot the Thunder from the field 44 percent to 38 percent. Lindsey Brenneman was the hot hand early, scoring 12 points in the half while Potts added 10 points.

After Wheaton built the lead up to 36-27 in the second half, Millikin scored 10 consecutive points and took back all the momentum. The pendulum swung back even further as the Big Blue went up 52-45 with six minutes left.

Despite going scoreless for the first 31 minutes of the game, CCIW Player of the Year Laura Karsten jumped back into the offensive flow by rattling off six-straight points. The burst helped tie the game back up at 53-53.

The final minute would be where the game was decided. Down 55-53, Potts drained a three-pointer with only 17 seconds left in the contest to put the Thunder back on top. A few seconds later, Karsten came through with a steal and was fouled, hitting both free throws to make it 58-55 with 12 seconds left.

Millikin's Julia Robert missed her subsequent trey opportunity with four seconds left and Wheaton held on for the win.

The Thunder finished the game shooting 31 percent from the field (20-65), 27 percent from three-point range (7-26) and 58 percent from the free throw line (11-19). Potts was the team's leading scorer with 16 while Brenneman tallied 15 points and six rebounds. Karsten added nine points and Kelly Brooks chipped in eight points.

Millikin won the rebounding battle 46-33, but committed 25 turnovers compared to 12 by Wheaton.

The Big Blue shot 43 percent from the field (23-53), 23 percent from beyond the arc (3-13), and 75 percent from the charity stripe (6-8). Elise Wildman tallied a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds. Robert totaled 13 points and Crystal Ziegler snagged eight points and 10 rebounds.