GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Katie McDaniels led Wheaton with 10 points on Wednesday night.

Kenosha, Wis.- A tough second half proved to be the difference for the Wheaton women's basketball team on Wednesday night. Trailing by three at halftime, the Thunder got outscored 39-23 in the second half and fell 64-45 at #9-ranked Carthage. The Lady Reds shot 48.3% from the field in the second half in improving to 18-2 overall and a perfect 9-0 in conference play. Wheaton fell to 15-5 and 6-4 in the CCIW. Wheaton will next play on Saturday when they host Millikin in its annual Play4Kay event.

Carthage jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead in the first five minutes but Wheaton responded by pushing back to within two points at 15-13 on a Chantal Meacham three-pointer with 8:03 to play in the first half. The Lady Reds then scored the game's next eight points to extend its lead to 10 points and continued to hold a 10 point lead before the Thunder closed the half by scoring the last seven points including a Moriah Reeves jumper with four seconds left to cut the lead to 25-22 at halftme.

Wheaton was able to keep the game close over the first four minutes of the second half but Carthage was able to methodically extend the lead to as many as 19 points on a pair of occasions including the final score of 64-45. Carthage was able to pull away behind the three-point shooting of Haley Stercic, who made three of her four long range attempts in the second stanza. Wheaton was 0-8 on second half three-point attempts.

Wheaton shot 33.9% (20-59) from the field including just 2-15 (13.3%) from three-point range. Wheaton was just 3-6 from the free throw line. Carthage shot 46.3% (25-54) from the field and 7-18 (38.9%) from beyond the arc. The Lady Reds were just 7-15 (46.7%) from the free throw line.

Katie McDaniels led the Thunder with 10 points. Ellie Zeller, Chantal Meacham and Maria Panaggio each had six points and Maris Hovee grabbed nine rebounds to go with five blocks. Haley Stercic led all scorers with 15 points for the Lady Reds. Michelle Wenzel recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds to go with five assists and four blocks.

Wheaton will host Millikin at 5 PM on Saturday night in its annual Play4Kay event for breast cancer awareness.