GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Laura Karsten tallied 20 points, seven steals and six rebounds.

Wheaton, Ill. - Two breakaway layups by Brooke Olson late in overtime gave the Wheaton College women's basketball team a 63-62 overtime victory over Elmhurst College on Saturday.

The two teams are now tied for third place in the CCIW race with identical 7-3 marks. The Thunder improve its overall record to 14-7 while the Bluejays fall to 16-5.

For Wheaton, it's the second-straight weekend overtime was needed to decide the game. Both teams struggled to score down the stretch in the second half, combined for eight points in the final six minutes of regulation. The Thunder used a six-point run during that time, capped by two free throws from Olson to give the home team a 55-53 lead.

However, Elmhurst came right back down the court and hit a jumper to tie up the score in the final 30 seconds. Wheaton ran down the clock to get a last shot, but two attempts didn't fall to force the extra period.

The overtime was all free throws to start. A total of 10 free throws were shot by the two teams as Elmhurst pulled ahead 62-59. The Thunder got back on the comeback trail with a steal by Laura Karsten, who fired a long outlet pass to a streaking Olson for the layup.

The scenario repeated itself the next possession. Wheaton swarmed to the ball, Maris Hovee yanked it out of the air and found Karsten. Once again, Karsten threw the long pass to Olson  (PICTURED RIGHT) for a second-straight layup and a 63-62 lead.

With three-straight turnovers putting them behind, the Bluejays missed two jumpers with three seconds left before committing a foul. A final desperation heave also fell well short to clinch Wheaton's win.

To start the game, three pointers staked Wheaton to an early lead at 15-8. That advantage swelled up to 12 points off a three by Brenneman to make it 31-19. The Thunder hit 4 of 9 from long range in the opening half. Elmhurst whittled away and went into halftime down 34-29, thanks in large part to Megan Merklein's baseline jumpers.

The Bluejays picked up their rebounding in the second half and controlled the paint effectively. Elmhurst ended up with a 43-29 advantage on the boards in the game. Wheaton, meanwhile, couldn't find its offensive flow and were limited to long shots from the perimeter. The hosts eventually found themselves down six points with seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Thunder shot 23 of 64 from the field (36 percent), 5 of 20 from three-point range (25 percent) and 12 of 16 from the line (75 percent). Karsten filled the scoresheet with 20 points, seven steals, six rebounds and four assists. Olson totaled 19 points, with Hovee pulling down seven rebounds.

The Bluejays shot 20 of 46 from the field (43 percent), 2 of 5 from beyond the arc (40 percent) and 20 of 26 from the charity stripe (77 percent). Elmhurst also committed 23 turnovers compared to 13 by Wheaton. Merklein and Megan Ney were the leading scorers with 15 points each. Merklein yanked 10 rebounds with eight rebounds for Ney. Fiona McMahon chipped in 10 points and seven boards off the bench.

Wheaton will next travel to Carthage College for a 7:30 PM tip on Wednesday.