Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team defeated No. 13 Illinois Wesleyan 58-52 on Thursday night in King Arena. Wheaton earns the regular season sweep of the Titans (16-4, 9-2 CCIW) to improve to 17-4 overall and 11-1 in CCIW play. Tonight's victory gives the Thunder sole possession of first place in the CCIW standings.
Hannah Frazier (PICTURED LEFT) scored a game-high 18 points for the Thunder. The junior grabbed nine rebounds, with four blocked shots and three assists.
Jill Berg was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to scored 11 points and she collected six rebounds.
Devin Kyler scored nine points with 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
Kristi Demski scored eight points,
Kirsten Madsen tallied six points and
Hannah Williams added five points with three assists.
Jordan Myroth grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, including four offensive boards.
The Titans scored the first field goal of the game, however, Wheaton countered with a 14-5 run to give the hosts a 14-7 lead with 2:00 left in the first quarter.
Kirsten Madsen's layup with 2:05 left in the first quarter gave Wheaton the 14-7 lead and IWU responded with a three-pointer and a field goal to trim the Thunder lead to 14-12 with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter. Wheaton led 15-12 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Titans out-scored the Thunder 20-13 in the second quarter as the guests led 32-28 at halftime.
A pair of baskets by IWU's Raven Hughes gave the Titans a 38-33 lead with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter. Thunder field goals by Kyler and Berg (PICTURED RIGHT) trimmed the Titans' lead to 38-37 with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter. Frazier followed Berg's basket with a three-pointer that was followed by a Berg layup to cap a string of nine unanswered points to give Wheaton a 42-38 lead with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Wheaton's strong 21-10 scoring advantage in the third quarter allowed the Thunder to hold a 49-42 lead at the conclusion of the third period.
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Kirsten Madsen basket with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter extended Wheaton's lead to 53-46. Illinois Wesleyan's Kendall Sosa drained a three-pointer with 2:35 left in regulation to cut the Wheaton lead to 53-49. Frazier made a pair of free throws as Wheaton increased its lead to 55-49 with 2:17 left in the contest. Sosa again responded with a three-pointer for the guests as her trey cut the Wheaton lead to 55-52 with 1:51 remaining in the game. Sosa's trifecta accounted for the guests' final points of the night as Wheaton made three of four free throw attempts in the final minute to account for the 58-52 final score.
Wheaton shot 39.6% (21-of-53) from the field, including 37.5% (6-of-16) behind the three-point arc. The Titans had a 26.5% (18-of-68) field goal percentage in the game, with a 20% (3-of-15) from three-point range. Wheaton shot 76.9% (10-of-13) at the free throw line and IWU had a 72.2% (13-of-18) effort at the charity stripe. Each team had 44 rebounds in the game with an 18-8 advantage for the Titans on the offensive glass.
Hughes led the Titans with 12 points and five rebounds. Sosa scored 10 points with six rebounds for the guests. Brooke Lansford scored nine points and Sydney Shanks tallied eight points.
Wheaton travels to Elmhurst on Saturday afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff against the Bluejays.
