Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton College women's basketball team will travel to River Falls, Wisconsin for the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament this Friday. Wheaton (22-5) will face the host Falcons of UW-River Falls (22-5) on Friday evening. Friday's opening first round game will feature St. Thomas (24-3) versus Loras (19-8). The victors from Friday's two games will play each other in a second round game on Saturday evening in River Falls.

Ticket prices for the games at UW-River Falls are $8 for adults; $4 for students and senior citizens; children aged two years and younger will be admitted for free. Tickets will only be sold at the door with no advance tickets. Payment for tickets will only be by cash or check (credit cards will not be accepted).

Wheaton enters the tournament with a 22-5 record this season. Wheaton won the 2016 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament last weekend to earn the conference's automatic bid to the Division III Tournament. The Thunder compiled an 11-3 record during the CCCIW's regular season schedule to win a share of the conference championship.

This is Wheaton's 10th postseason appearance. Head coach Kent Madsen is guiding the Thunder into the postseason for the third time in his six seasons at the helm of the women's basketball program.

Friday's game will be the first meeting in women's basketball between Wheaton and UW-River Falls. The Falcons tallied a record of 22-5 this year and earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Junior guard Katie McDaniels, the 2015-16 CCIW Most Outstanding Player, leads the Thunder in scoring this season with 17.0 points per game and also has a team-high 5.2 assists per game with 2.0 steals per game.

Senior post player Hannah Considine earned Second Team All-CCIW recognition this winter. Considine heads into the NCAA Tournament with an average of 10.2 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game. Considine has a 55.9% (113-202) field goal percentage and is averaging 1.0 blocked shots per game this season.

Guard Kelly Lawson earned third team All-CCIW recognition this season for her breakout sophomore campaign. Lawson is averaging 8.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game this year. She has distributed 2.4 assists per game for the Thunder.

Sophomore guard Chantal Meacham has contributed 8.0 points per game this year, with a team-record 55 three-pointers. Jennifer Berg average 4.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game and freshman Devin Kyler adds 4.6 points per outing with 4.7 rebounds per game.