Bloomington, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team defeated Carthage College 69-54 on Friday evening in the CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament Semifinal. Wheaton earns its 16^th-consecutive victory to improve to 22-4 overall. Carthage is now 18-8 overall.

Wheaton will face the winner of Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst in Friday's second semifinal game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the CCIW Tournament Championship Game. Saturday's appearance in the CCIW Tournament Championship game will be Wheaton's 10^th trip to the game since the tournament started in 2003.

Hannah Frazier led the Thunder tonight with 26 points and 10 rebounds to tally her third career "double-double". Maggie Dansdill (PICTURED LEFT) scored 15 points, with six rebounds. Senior Kelly Lawson scored 12 points with four assists. Jordan Myroth tallied six points with seven assists.

Carthage led the Thunder 16-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Reds for much of the second quarter, including a 28-22 lead with 1:55 remaining in the opening half when Frazier made a three-pointer to trim the Carthage lead to 28-25. Frazier's three-pointer ignited an 11-0 Thunder run to close out the second quarter as Wheaton led 33-28 at halftime.

The Thunder extended the lead to 39-31 with 8:35 left in the third quarter when Carthage responded on an 8-2 run to trim the Wheaton lead to 41-39 with 7:00 left in the third. The matchup was tied 49-49 at the conclusion of the third quarter.

The Thunder out-scored the Lady Reds 10-2 over the first 3:30 of the fourth quarter to give Wheaton a 59-51 lead with 6:30 left in the game. Wheaton's impressive fourth quarter was enough to close out the Lady Reds as Wheaton advanced to the CCIW Tournament Championship Game for the fourth-consecutive year with the 69-54 victory.

Wheaton posted a 49.1% (26-of-53) field goal percentage, including 30% (6-for-20) from three-point range. Carthage shot 31.7% (19-of-60) from the field, including 31.3% (10-for-32) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 78.6% (11-of-14) from the free throw line and the Lady Reds posted a 75% (6-of-8) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton dominated Carthage on the glass with a 45-25 advantage, including an 11-7 edge on the offensive glass.

Autumn Kalis scored 12 points with three steals to lead Carthage. Morgan Harris tallied 11 points, with eight rebounds and four assists. Sammie Woodward scored nine points and Madie Kalber added eight points.

Note Worthy: Wheaton's 16-game win streak is the longest single-season streak in program history and is one shy of the longest overall win streak in team history.