Whitewater, Wis. – A strong second half surge by UW-Whitewater (3-5) led the Warhawks to a 66-63 win against the ninth-ranked Wheaton Thunder on Wednesday night. Wheaton is now 7-1 on the year, dropping its first game of the 2014-15 season. The Thunder will host University of Dubuque on Friday at 5 p.m. in King Arena in a busy week of action for the squad. Wheaton will travel to Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon to complete its full week.

The contest was tied 26-26 with 4:20 left in the first half when Wheaton put together an 11-0 run to take a 37-26 lead with 1:35 left in the opening half of play. The Thunder held a 39-30 lead at the halftime intermission. Lauren Graham led the all players with a 12-point effort in the opening half.

Wheaton led the Warhawks 46-35 with 17:35 left in the second half when the hosts put together an 11-2 run to cut the Thunder lead to 48-46 with 12:00 left in the contest. The Thunder continued to maintain a lead until UW-Whitewater's Emily Jensen made a basket and the ensuing free throw with 5:34 left in the game to give the Warhawks a 62-60 lead. Wheaton's Ellie Zeller made a pair of free throws with 5:16 remaining to tie the game at 62-62. Brooke Trewyn of the Warhawks scored a go-ahead basket with 4:18 remaining in the game to give the hosts a 64-62 advantage.

The hosts led 64-63 when a missed basket by the Thunder led to UWW rebound and the hosts converted one of two free throws to increase their lead to 65-63. Wheaton had an opportunity as the Thunder in-bounded the ball with 11-seconds remaining in the game, but a turnover by the guests led to a UWW free throw with one second left to secure the 66-63 win for the hosts.

Graham led the Thunder with a game-high 18 points. Katie McDaniels scored 15 points and she added three steals. Chantal Meacham scored eight points, with four rebounds. Ellie Zeller tallied six points and Sarah Drury added six points.

The Thunder shot 38.1 (24-of-63) from the field, with 22.2% (2-for-9) from three-point range and 81.3% (13-of-16) at the free throw line. The Warhawks posted a 52.2% (24-of-46) field goal percentage, including 45.5% (5-of-11) from three-point range and 65% (13-for-20) at the charity stripe.

Trewyn and Lisa Palmer each scored 14 points to lead the Warhawks. Palmer grabbed 13 rebounds for the hosts and added five assists. Emily Jensen scored nine points with five rebounds and Andrea Olsen scored eight points.