Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team earned a 92-70 victory against Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday night in the Championship Game of the 2016 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament. Wheaton wins the conference tournament for the second consecutive year and with the title earns the CCIW's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The NCAA will announce tournament pairings
here on Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Illinois Wesleyan narrowly led early in the first quarter with a 13-12 advantage for the Titans with 4:58 left in the first quarter, but the Thunder responded with a 13-4 run to give #18-ranked Wheaton a 27-17 lead with 53-seconds remaining before the end of the opening quarter. The hosts never trailed after that point and led 48-37 at halftime. The Thunder maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half as Wheaton earned the 22-point win.
Junior guard
Katie McDaniels (PICTURED LEFT) scored a career-high 32 points for the Thunder on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and she added three assists. Junior guard
Katie McDaniels scored a career-high 32 points for the Thunder on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and she added three assists. Head coach
Kent Madsen said of McDaniels, "It is kind of remarkable that [Katie] had 32 points tonight, it seemed like a quiet 32." He added, "Obviously she has meant a tremendous amount to this team. Not only is she a prolific scorer, but the way that she passes the ball and the amount of assists that she gets is impressive."
Senior center
Hannah Considine scored 16 points with seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Junior guard
Chantal Meacham scored 13 points with six assists and sophomore guard
Kelly Lawson (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 11 points and tied the CCIW Tournament record with eight assists.
Wheaton shot 57.1% (32-of-56) from the field tonight, including 41.2% (7-of-17) from three-point range and 70% (21-of-30) at the free throw line. Illinois Wesleyan posted a 34.4% (22-of-64) field goal percentage, including 55.6% (5-of-9) from three-point range and 77.8% (21-of-27) at the free throw line. The Titans owned a 38-33 edge on the glass, with a 21-10 advantage for IWU on the offensive glass.
Molly McGraw led Illinois Wesleyan with 19 point and Maddie Merritt added 12 points with six rebounds for the Titans.
This season's tournament title is the fifth for Wheaton in the 14-year history of the event, with the Thunder also winning in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2015. Wheaton has compiled a 13-7 all-time record in the tournament.
Note Worthy: McDaniels converted 13 free throws tonight to establish a new single-season record for made free throws with 154 this year...with three assists tonight she moved into sixth place on Wheaton's single-season assists list with 134 this year…McDaniels' 442 points this season is the eighth-highest single-season total in program history. Considine's 16 points and seven rebounds tonight moved her into 17th in school history in scoring with 1,043 career points and eighth all-time with 617 career rebounds…Considine's four blocked shots tonight gives her 100 in her four seasons with the Thunder to make her the fifth player in program history to record at least 100 blocked shots.
