PICTURED ABOVE: Katie McDaniels scored 24 points on Wednesday night to become just the fourth player in program history with 1,600 career points.
Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team held off a late charge from a fiesty Augustana team on Wednesday night to earn a 67-63 victory. In a game that saw Wheaton go on scoring runs of 10-0, 19-1 and 14-0, the Vikings continued to fight their way back all evening before eventually falling short. Wheaton improves to 17-4 overall and 10-2 in the CCIW. Augustana falls to 15-7 overall and 8-5 in the CCIW. Wheaton will remain at home on Saturday night when the Thunder welcome the North Park Vikings for Senior Night at King Arena and a 5 pm tip off.
Wheaton emerged victorious despite being on the short side of a 53-37 rebounding battle that saw the Vikings grab 22 offensive rebounds. Wheaton shot 40.7% (22-54) from the field and made one of its six three-point attempts. Wheaton was effective getting to the free throw line, making 22-of-30 (73.3%) of its attempts at the charity stripe. Augustana shot 33.3% (25-75) but struggled to just 13.6% (3-22) from the three-point line. The Vikings were 76.9% (10-13) at the free throw line. The Thunder recorded an assist on 17 of their 22 made field goals.
Behind the strong play of their 6-5 center Kaycee Kallenberger, Augustana jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead. Once Kallenberger exited the game for the first time, Wheaton immediately went on a 10-0 run that saw
Kelly Lawson and
Katie McDaniels each contribute four points. Kallenberger's return brought an 8-2 Augustana run that was stopped when McDaniels beat the first quarter buzzer with a jumper to tie the score at 18-18.
Kallenberger scored on the opening possession of the second quarter to put the Vikings ahead 20-18 before Wheaton embarked on a 19-1 run that saw the Thunder hold Augustana without a field goal until a last-second three-pointer.
Devin Kyler's three-pointer gave Wheaton the lead for good at 22-20. Kyler (PICTURED RIGHT) and McDaniels combined for 15 of Wheaton's 19 second quarter points as the Thunder pushed the lead to 16 points before Jennifer VanWatermeulen's three-pointer in the closing second snapped a field goal drought of nine minutes and 17 seconds and cut Wheaton's halftime lead to 37-24.
Wheaton pushed its lead to a game-high 17 points on Kyler's jumper with 6:52 to play in the third quarter before Augustana ran off seven unanswered points.
Kelly Lawson stopped the run with a three-point play with 5:19 left in the third quarter but that would prove to be Wheaton's final field goal of the quarter. Augustana closed the third quarter on a 11-2 and got to within 48-44 on Izzy Anderson's running jumper with two seconds left.
The Thunder responded by opening the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run that saw the Vikings held scoreless for the first 5:23 of the quarter while Wheaton built a 61-44 with 4:47 to play.
Jordan Myroth's lay-up that capped the scoring run also served as Wheaton's last field goal of the game.
Devin Kyler's free throws with 3:44 left answered an Augie three-pointer, but the Vikings then ran off a 9-0 run that cut the score to 64-57 with 45 seconds left. A series of free throws held off the Vikings and Victoria Allen's jumper as the final buzzer sounded cut the final score to 67-63.
Katie McDaniels led all scorers with 24 points including 15 points in the first half. McDaniels became just the fourth player in program history to cross the 1,600 career point threshold with a fourth quarter lay-up.
Kelly Lawson finished with 17 points and
Devin Kyler filled the stat line with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists, six steals and three blocks.
Chantal Meacham grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead the Thunder. Kaycee Kallenberger led the Vikings with an impressive 20-point, 21-rebound performance and was joined in double figures by Izzy Anderson who finished with 12 points.
