PICTURED ABOVE: Ellie Zeller scored 14 points at Augustana, shooting five-of-seven from the field.

Rock Island, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team, ranked 23^rd in the most recent D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, returned to CCIW play on Wednesday night with an 80-69 victory at Augustana (10-3, 3-1 CCIW). Wheaton improves to 9-2 overall and stands alone atop the CCIW standings at 3-0.

Augustana led the Thunder 4-2 in the first 1:15 of tonight's game. However, that was the Vikings' final lead of the game as Wheaton responded with a 14-6 run to take a 16-10 lead with 3:45 left in the first quarter. Ellie Zeller scored eight first-quarter points in her first CCIW regular season game since February 21, 2015. Katie McDaniels (PICTURED LEFT) contributed six points in the quarter as she and Zeller combined to score 14 pf the Wheaton's 22 points in the opening quarter as the Thunder led 22-14.

The Thunder continued to extend the lead in the second quarter, leading by as many as 13 points with a 32-19 edge with 6:15 remaining in the game. Wheaton held a 42-31 advantage at halftime.

Wheaton led 49-35 with 6:35 remaining in the third quarter when the hosts responded with an 8-1 run to cut Thunder advantage to seven points at a 50-43 Wheaton lead with four minutes left in the third quarter. The Thunder responded and returned to a double-digit lead as the guests led 60-50 at the conclusion of the third quarter. Freshman Jordan Myroth (PICTURED RIGHT) scored seven of her nine points for the game in the third quarter.

McDaniels scored nine points in the fourth quarter as Wheaton maintained its double-digit lead for much of the final period.

McDaniels scored a game-high 19 points and added three assists with two steals for the Thunder. Zeller scored 14 points on five-of-seven shooting from the field. Kelly Lawson scored 12 points, with five rebounds and two steals. Freshman Jordan Myroth scored nine points on four-of-six shooting, and she added three assists. Devin Kyler (PICTURED RIGHT) scored eight points, collected 10 rebounds, snagged four steals and blocked two shots in a well-rounded effort. Chantal Meacham scored seven points with four assists. Jill Berg collected 10 rebounds in 14 minutes off the Thunder bench.

Wheaton shot 45.5% (30-of-66) from the field, including 20% (3-for-15) from three-point range. The Vikings posted a 36.8% (25-for-68) field goal percentage, including 33.3% (6-of-18) behind the three-point line. Thunder shot 77.3% (17-of-22) at the free throw line and the Vikings tallied a 61.9% (13-of-21) effort at the charity stripe.

Augustana's Corrie Reiley led the hosts with 16 points. Kaycee Kallenberger scored 13 points with 16 rebounds and three blocked shots. Izzy Anderson scored 13 points with four assists for the Vikings.
Wheaton will return action on Saturday against CCIW rival Illinois Wesleyan. The Thunder and the Titans will tipoff at 5:00 p.m. in Bloomington.

Note Worthy: Katie McDaniels was credited with three assists in tonight's victory to give her 400 career assists…McDaniels is the third player in program history to reach the 400-assist milestone, joining Kerry Cole (463) and Amy Russell (450).