PICTURED ABOVE: Katie McDaniels has scored 20 or more points in five of Wheaton's last six games.
Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team put together an impressive performance tonight in a 73-34 victory at home against Millikin University (7-16, 0-12 CCIW) in King Arena. Wheaton improves to 17-5 overall and 9-3 in CCIW play. Wheaton remains tied for first place in the CCIW at 9-3 with Illinois Wesleyan. The Thunder, currently ranked 23rd in Division III in this week's
WBCA Division III Coaches Poll and 25th in the
D3hoops.com Top-25, will travel to Carthage on Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. tipoff with the Lady Reds.
Wheaton never trailed in tonight's matchup with the Big Blue and the 39-point margin of victory was the largest Thunder lead of the game. Millikin's 34 points tonight was the fewest by the Big Blue women's basketball program since a 50-32 loss to Illinois Wesleyan on February 18, 2003. The 34 points allowed by the Thunder defense is the fewest for a Wheaton opponent since an 83-25 victory against Aurora on November 21, 2014.
Junior
Katie McDaniels continued her recent string of strong play tonight with 20 points, nine assists and three steals. The guard has averaged 21 points and 6.2 assists per game in Wheaton's last six contests, scoring 20 ore more points in five of those six outings.
Hannah Considine (PICTURED LEFT) scored 14 points with nine rebounds tonight. Junior
Chantal Meacham tallied nine points with three assists and three steals.
Kelly Lawson (PICTUREED RIGHT) contributed seven points and
Kelly Thornton made a pair of three-pointers for a six-point effort.
Emily Schultz led the Big Blue with 11 points tonight. Rachael Weber scored seven points and Alyssa Saklak tallied six points with four rebounds.
Wheaton had a 40.6% (26-of-64) field goal percentage tonight, including 37.5% (9-of-24) from three-point range. Millikin shot 28.6% (12-of-42) from the field, including 25% (2-of-8) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton compiled an 80% (12-of-15) effort at the free throw line and Millikin shot 57.1% (8-of-14) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Big Blue 39-32 tonight, including a 12-6 edge on the offensive glass.
Note Worthy: Considine became the 20th player in program history to achieve 1,000 career points with tonight's 14-point outing as she now has 1.006 points in her four-year career...McDaniels moved into seventh place on Wheaton's all-time assists list with 332 career assists as she moved past Janet Thomas (1985-87) with tonight's outing.
