Rock Island, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team, ranked 22nd in the latest D3hoops.com poll, saw its eight-game win streak snapped on Wednesday night with a 56-51 loss at Augustana. Wheaton trailed for a majority of the contest but rallied to the game at 49 in the final minute, but could not come up with the necessary sequence to pull it out. The loss drops Wheaton to 13-4 overall and 7-1 in the CCIW. Augustana is now 11-6 overall with a 5-3 mark in CCIW action. Wheaton will return to King Arena on Saturday night to host North Park for a 5 pm tipoff.

Wheaton's lone first half lead came midway through the first quarter when Hannah Frazier's free throws put the Thunder ahead 5-4. Augustana would score the next six points to lead 10-5. The Thunder would pull back within a point on a Kristi Demski lead late in the quarter but the Vikings led 19-17 after the first quarter. Wheaton was able to tie the game three times through the first eight minutes of the second quarter, but could not pull ahead. The Vikings broke the third tie with a three-pointer with 1:12 to play in the half, but Hannah Swider answered with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 28 at halftime.

A 7-0 run early in the third quarter finally put the Thunder in the lead with Hannah Williams breaking a 30-30 tie with a three-pointer and Frazier adding a basket, giving the visitors their largest lead of the night at 35-30. Wheaton led by five again at 37-32 but the Vikings closed the quarter on a 9-1 run capped by Clare Kramer's three-pointer in the final seconds to give Augustana a 41-38 lead at the end of the third quarter.

A four-minute scoreless drought greeted the Thunder to start the fourth quarter while the Vikings stretched to their largest lead of the game at 47-38 follow three-pointers from Izzy Anderson and Scooter Lopez. Wheaton slowly chipped away at the lead, using three-pointers by Kirsten Madsen, Williams, and Devin Kyler to pull within two. A lay-up by Williams with 1:30 to play pulled Wheaton even once again at 49, but Lopez answered on the ensuing possession to give the Vikings the lead for good. Wheaton turned the ball over on the next possession and the Vikings were able to ice the victory from the free throw line.

Neither team shot the ball well, as both teams finished the game shooting below 33% from the field. Both teams made seven three-pointers with Wheaton shooting 25.9% and the Vikings hitting 33% of their three-point opportunities. The Vikings dominated the glass, grabbing 50 rebounds including 16 offensive boards while Wheaton was held to 35 rebounds and six offensive boards.

Hannah Frazier led Wheaton with 18 points and was joined in double figures by Hannah Williams with 10 points. Devin Kyler grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds to go with seven points. Izzy Anderson led all scorers with 20 points for Augustana and Alexis Jones grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.