Elmhurst, Ill. – The Thunder women's basketball team, ranked 19^th in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, opened conference play with a 71-53 victory at Elmhurst on Saturday afternoon. Wheaton improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in CCIW play and Elmhurst falls to 6-1 on the year with a 0-1 record in league action.

The first quarter was tightly contested as the first 10 minutes of the game closed in a 13-13 tie. Elmhurst scored the first basket of the second quarter to take a 15-13 lead. A basket by Wheaton's Mel Bremhorst with 9:14 left in the first half tied the game at 15-15 and sparked a 22-2 run for the Thunder that increased Wheaton's lead to 35-17 with 2:55 remaining before the halftime intermission. The Thunder led 38-22 at halftime.

Wheaton maintained its double digit lead throughout the game. The largest Thunder advantage of the second half was a 24-point lead.

Senior guard Katie McDaniels led the Thunder with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting today. She grabbed six rebounds and distributed three assists for the guests. Kelly Lawson (PICTURED LEFT) scored 15 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field. Kelly Thornton scored nine points and Maggie Dansdill tallied seven points with seven rebounds. Chantal Meacham distributed a game-high seven assists.

Kalia Summerlin led Elmhurst with 12 points. Mikaela Eppard added 10 points with five rebounds.

Wheaton shot 51.9% (28-of-54) from the field, including 50% (7-of-14) from three-point range. Elmhurst tallied a 34.9% (22-of-63) field goal percentage, with 20% (4-of-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 80% (8-of-10) at the free throw line and Elmhurst recorded a 71.4% (5-of-7) effort at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded the Bluejays 41-29 and Elmhurst had a 9-7 edge on the offensive glass.

The Thunder will host North Central on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.

Note Worthy: McDaniels' 27 points moves her past Kerry Cole into fifth place on Wheaton's career scoring list with 1,331 career points.