Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team (0-1) opened its 2018-19 season on Friday night at home against No. 4 ranked Thomas More. The Saints (1-0) topped the Thunder 71-49 in the matchup.

Thomas More held an early 12-2 lead and never trailed in tonight's matchup. The Saints led 35-21 at the halftime intermission. The guests' largest lead of the game was a 29-point bulge at 67-38 with 7:45
remaining in the fourth quarter.

Thunder junior Hannah Frazier led the Thunder with 13 points and she grabbed five rebounds. Jill Berg scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting. She added three blocked shots for the hosts. Kristi Demski and Hannah Williams each scored six points. Williams (PICTURED RIGHT) added four assists. Jennifer Berg scored five points for the hosts with five rebounds and two steals.

Thomas More's Madison Temple lead all players with 24 points, five assists and seven steals. Temple shot 8-of-14 from the field. Shelby Rupp scored 15 points with eight rebounds. Briana McNutt scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field. Asyah Mitchell added nine points with four rebounds.

Wheaton shot 34% (18-of-53) from the field in the game, including 25% (6-of-24) from three-point range. The Saints posted a 49% field goal percentage (25-of-51), including 46.2% (6-of-13) from three-point range. Wheaton had an 87.5% (7-of-8) effort at the free throw line and the Saints shot 71.4% (15-of-21) at the charity stripe. Thomas More out-rebounded the Thunder 35-28 and each team collected 10 rebounds.

Wheaton hosts the Beth Baker Classic next Friday and Saturday in King Arena. The tournament opens on Friday at 1:00 p.m. as Buena Vista takes on Hanover. Wheaton hosts Macalester at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.

The tournament's consolation game will be Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with the championship matchup at 3:00 p.m..