PICTURED ABOVE: Chantal Meacham hit six three-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points in Wheaton's 65-54 victory over Clarke on Tuesday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team moved to 2-0 on the young season with a 65-54 victory over Clarke University on Tuesday night at King Arena. Wheaton shot an impressive 9-15 (60%) from behind the three-point line to in the victory including a 6-for-9 showing from Chantal Meacham who led the Thunder with a career-high 20 points. Wheaton will open play in the Beth Baker Classic this weekend at 3 PM against Aurora University in King Arena. Clarke falls to 4-4 on the season.

Wheaton shot 20-46 (43.5%) from the field and 16-21 (76.2%) from the free throw line to go along with its 9-15 three-point shooting. Clarke was 19-60 (31.7%) from the field and just 5-21 (23.8%) on three-point attempts. The Crusaders shot 11-14 (78.6%) from the free throw line. Wheaton held a narrow edge in rebounding with a 38-35 margin, however the Crusaders were able to grab 16 offensive rebounds. Wheaton selflessly assisted on 17 of its 20 field goal attempts.

The first portion of Tuesday night's contest saw a very even affair with neitehr team able to hold a lead until the Thunder took the lead for good on a lay-up by Hannah Considine with 10:02 remaining in the half to give Wheaton a 16-15 lead. Meacham followed with a three-pointer and a Lauren Graham (PICTURED RIGHT) lay-up gave Wheaton its biggest lead of the half at 21-15 with just under seven minutes to play. The 7-0 Thunder run came on the heels of a scoring drought of over five minutes for Crusaders. Wheaton would eventually stretch the lead out to seven and an Ellie Zeller three-pointer at the buzzer gave Wheaton a 35-29 halftime lead.

The Thunder opened the second half on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 44-29, four minutes into the second half. Clarke was able to finally snap the scoring drought with a three-point play by Anna Hahn, 4:20 into the second half. Hahn would finish with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds for the visitors.  Wheaton's second half lead extended to a game-high 18 points with 2:35 to play but a series of free throws allowed the Crusaders to end the game on a 5-0 run and cut the final deficit to 65-54.

Along with her game-high 20 points, Meacham filled the box score with five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Ellie Zeller also stuffed the state line with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Hannah Considine scored eight points, Kelly Lawson added six points, four rebounds and three assists and Mel Bremhorst finished with four points and four rebounds. Breland Prochaska led the Crusaders with 18 points.

Wheaton will play host to this weekend's Beth Baker Classic at King Arena. Wheaton will face Aurora at 3 PM on Friday afternoon and will entertain Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 3 PM on Saturday.