PICTURED ABOVE: Katie McDaniels led the Thunder with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in Wheaton's 67-57 victory over Augustana on Saturday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - The #20-ranked Thunder women's basketball team used a 19-2 fourth quarter advantage to come from behind for a 67-57 victory of Augustana on Saturday night at King Arena. Included in the dominant fourth quarter was a 14-0 run to close the game. With the victory the Thunder (20-5, 11-3 CCIW) clinches its second consecutive CCIW Championship and the eighth conference title in program history. Augustana finishes its season 10-15 overall and 5-9 in CCIW play. Wheaton will host the 2016 CCIW Tournament starting with semifinals action on February 26.

Wheaton trailed for the majority of the ball game with Augustana staking a 57-53 lead with 7:14 to play in the game that would serve as the last points the Vikings would score. Hannah Considine started the Thunder comeback with a lay-up off a Kelly Lawson assist. Considine would tie the score at 57-57 with 4:39 to play and Lawson would give the Thunder its first lead of the game on a jumper in the lane with 3:17 to play, making the score 59-57.

Lawson (PICTURED RIGHT) gave Wheaton some breathing room with a three-pointer that was followed 20 seconds later by a three-point play by Katie McDaniels that gave Wheaton an eight-point edge with 1:16 remaining. A free throw each by McDaniels and Lawson in the final 70 seconds sent Wheaton to the 67-57 victory.

Wheaton shot 21-55 (38.2%) from the field and 31.3% (5-16) from beyond the arc. The Thunder shot 20-29 (69%) from the free throw line. Despite shooting 51.6% from the field in the first half, the Vikings finished at 44.2% (23-52) from the field for the game. Augie shot 30.8% (4-13) on three-point attempts and 87.5% (7-8) at the free throw line. Wheaton won the rebounding pbattle 37-31 including a 13-5 edge in offensive rebounds.

Augustana jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game before Wheaton was able to trim the lead down to 18-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Viking lead was cut to one point on a pair of occasions in the second quarter but Augustana responded by boosting the lead to as many as nien points with with 2:49 to play before halftime. Wheaton closed the half on a 9-2 run to trail 37-35 at halftime. The Vikings pushed the lead to nine points twice in the third quarter but took a 55-48 lead into the decisive fourth quarter.

Katie McDaniels led all scorers with 22 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kelly Lawson scored 13 points. Hannah Considine (PICTURED LEFT) finished with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Jennifer Berg also scored eight points to go with three steals.

Wheaton will host Elmhurst College in the semifinals of the CCIW Tournament. The CCIW Co-Champions, Illinois Wesleyan will face North Central in the other semifinal matchup. Gametimes will be announced next week.

Note Worthy: Katie McDaniels moved past Karla Groen (1985-89), Jull Trenz (2004-07), and Fran Barrett (1978-82) into 10th place on Wheaton's career scoring list with 1,122 career points...Hannah Considine became just the 13th player in program history to grab 600 career rebounds...McDaniels joined Nicole Merchant (1993-97) as the only two players in program history to make 400 career free throws.