PICTURED ABOVE: Lindsey Brenneman scored 23 of Wheaton's 51 points in the win at Carthage.

Kenosha, Wis. - The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team won a closely contested battle at Carthage College on Wednesday night, pickup up a key conference win. Wheaton earned a 51-49 victory against the Lady Reds at Carthage's Tarble Arena. Thunder head coach Kent Madsen noted of tonight's game, “This was a tough win on the road. We dug down deep when we needed to and pulled out a win.”

With tonight's win, Wheaton moves into a second-place tie in the CCIW standings with Carthage as each team holds an 8-3 league record. The Thunder will visit North Central on Saturday night at 5:30 PM in Naperville.

Carthage scored the final four points of the first half to push a two-point lead to a six- point  bulge of 26-20 at halftime. Carthage maintained its lead through the first 12 minutes of the second half. 

The Lady Reds held a 36-30 lead with 13:30 remaining in regulation, but Wheaton responded with a 15-2 to take its first lead of the second half at 45-38 with 5:49 remaining in the game. Wheaton's key 15-2 run was fueled by three three-pointers with two trifectas by Elisabeth Potts (PICTURED LEFT) and a trey by Lindsey Brenneman. 

The Thunder maintained a seven-point lead at 49-42 with three minutes left in the game. Carthage responded with a basket on its next possession and a three-pointer on the following trip down the court to cut Wheaton's lead to 49-47 with 1:10 left in the contest. Thunder guard Laura Karsten made a basket with 1:08 left in the game to increase the guest lead to 51-47. Carthage trimmed the Wheaton lead to 51-49 on a field goal with 51-seconds left. Wheaton turned the ball over on its next possession, however the Thunder defense clamped down on the ensuing Carthage possession as the Lady Reds' field goal was no good and Wheaton senior Maris Hovee (PICTURED RIGHT) collected the rebound with four seconds left. Hovee was fouled, missing a free throw attempt, but she grabbed the rebound of her miss and Wheaton ran out the clock to with the game at 51-49.

Madsen commented of his team's key 15-2 run in the second half, “Potts hit a three in the corner that lit the fire offensively for us. Her shot and the big scoring run was critical for us to get the momentum back in the game and once we got the momentum we held onto it.”

Brenneman led Wheaton with 23 points, draining five three-pointers. Potts made three trifectas in the contest as she scored 11 points. Karsten scored seven points, with seven rebounds and three assists. Hovee grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds with three assists and Brooke Olson collected nine boards, with three assists. 

Cailee Corcoran led Carthage with 19 points and she added eight rebounds. Diana Jacklin scored 10 points and collected 19 rebounds.