Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton College women's basketball team will travel to St. Louis, Missouri for the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament this Friday. Wheaton (23-5) will face Rose-Hulman (24-3) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Friday's other first round game will feature the host Bears of Washington University (23-2) versus St. Norbert (20-5) in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The victors from Friday's two games will play each other in a second round game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets each day are $7.00 for adults and $5.00 for students (with student ID), seniors, and children.

Wheaton enters the tournament with a 23-4 record this season, recording the second-highest single-season win total in program history. Wheaton won the 2017 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament last weekend to earn the conference's automatic bid to the Division III Tournament. The Thunder compiled a 14-2 record during the CCIW's regular season schedule to win the team's third-consecutive conference championship.

This is Wheaton's 11^th postseason appearance. Head coach Kent Madsen is guiding the Thunder into the postseason for the fourth time in his seven seasons at the helm of the Thunder.

Friday's game will be the first meeting in women's basketball between Wheaton and the Rose-Hulman. The Fightin' Engineers tallied a record of 24-3 this year and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Heartland Conference Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament and the HCAC's bid to the tournament.

Senior guard Katie McDaniels, a two-time CCIW Most Outstanding Player honoree, leads the Thunder in scoring this season with 19.8 points per game and she has a team-high 4.5 assists per game with 2.1 steals per game. She has set Wheaton career records for assists and free throws this season and the CCIW's record for most free throws made in a career.

Junior guard Kelly Lawson joined McDaniels as a First Team All-CCIW selection this winter. Lawson heads into the NCAA Tournament with an average of 12.1 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. Lawson has a 46.3% (118-255) field goal percentage.

Senior guard Chantal Meacham, a Second Team All-CCIW selection, has contributed 9.0 points per game this year, with 57 three-pointers. Meacham is shooting a career-high 42.5% (57-of-134) from three-point range this season and her 235 career three-pointers is a school record.

Sophomore Devin Kyler earned Second Team All-CCIW recognition this season. Kyler averages a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game and contributes 7.5 points per game. She also contributes 2.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 2.3 blocked shots per game.

Senior Ellie Zeller has a team-high 52.6% (61-of-116) field goal percentage and averages7.9 points per game. Zeller has 1,212 career points and ranks eighth on the program's all-time scoring list. Junior Maggie Dansdill averages 7.7 points per game with 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. Kelly Thornton is second on the team with 32 three-pointers, averaging 6.4 points per game. Jordan Myroth averages 3.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Freshman Jill Berg contributes 4.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.