GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Katie McDaniels scored a game-high 19 points and Ellie Zeller scored 18 points in Wheaton's 96-52 win at North Central on Saturday night.

Naperville, Ill.- The Wheaton women's basketball team used a dominant second half to cruise to a 96-52 victory at North Central on Saturday night. The Thunder out-scored the host Cardinals 55-22 in the second half to post the 44-point victory. With the win, Wheaton is now 18-5 overall and 9-4 in CCIW play. North Central falls to 11-13 overall and 4-9 in conference play with the loss.

Wheaton shot 51.9% (42-81) from the field despite shooting just 0-for-5 on three-point attempts. Wheaton was 12-of-18 (66.7%) from the free throw line. The Thunder held North Central to just 18.7% (17-91) from the field, including just 4-of-36 on three-pointers. The Cardinals also shot 66.7% (14-21) from the free throw line. North Central was 1-of-21 (4.8%) on three-point attempts in the second half.

Wheaton jumped out to a quick lead, scoring the game's first six points and racing out to a 20-4 advantage six minutes into the game. North Central used a 7-0 run in the middle of the half to cut Wheaton's lead down to seven, but the Thunder responded with eight straight points to restore its double-digit lead. Despite allowing the final six points of the half, Wheaton took a 41-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Wheaton opened the second half on an 11-0 run over the first three minutes of the second half to stake a 52-30 lead. Wheaton would follow that run with 12-0 surge that pushed the lead to 30 points. Wheaton would extend the lead to as many as 43 points at 89-46 with 3:43 to play. A late lay-up by Melodie Yu pushed the lead to a game-high 44 points and provided the 96-52 final score.

Katie McDaniels led all scorers with 19 points and added six assists. Ellie Zeller scored 18 points with nine rebounds, Maria Panaggio added 14 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots, Lauren Graham scored 10 points and Moriah Reeves (PICTURED RIGHT) added seven points to go with 11 rebounds. Uzuri Williams scored 12 and Tess Godhardt added 10 points to lead the Cardinals.

Wheaton will step out of conference play on Wednesday night when the Thunder hosts the Illinois Institute of Technology at 7 PM in King Arena.