Kenosha, Wis. - A dominant second half by the Thunder women's basketball team was more than enough to make up for a second quarter struggle as Wheaton won its third-consecutive game with a 68-57 victory at Carthage on Saturday night. The victory is Wheaton's sixth-straight over the Lady Reds and 10th in their last 11 meetings against Carthage. The victory moves Wheaton to 13-5 on the season and 6-3 in CCIW action. Carthage falls to 8-10 overall and 3-6 in the CCIW with its fifth-straight loss.

Wheaton shot 41.8% (23-55) despite shooting just 7-25 (28%) from beyond the arc. Carthage finished at 34.6% (18-52) from the field and shot 35.3% (6-17) from the three-point line. Both teams shot well at the free throw line with Carthage shooting 83.3% (15-18) and Wheaton finishing at 78.9% (15-19). The Thunder held a 39-31 rebounding advantage including an 11-8 edge in offensive rebounds. Wheaton's ball movement was key in the victory as the Thunder assisted on 20 of its 23 made field goals.

Tied at three just a minute into the game, Wheaton took the early lead behind a 7-0 run capped by a three-point play from Hannah Williams. Wheaton's run stretched to 11-2 on a Kirsten Madsen three-pointer and a basketball by Frazier to take a 15-5 lead and force an early Carthage timeout. Wheaton pushed the lead to 10 again at 21-11 on a Jordan Myroth lay-up late in the quarter en route to a 21-13 lead at the end of the quarter.

Carthage opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run over the first two minutes and pushed into the lead as the run extended to 19-3 while the Lady Reds held Wheaton without a field goal for a stretch of six minutes to build a 32-24 lead. Taylor Sanders ended the scoreless drought with a jumper but the Lady Reds answered as the clock expired to lead 34-26 at the halftime break.

After shooting just 2-11 in the second quarter, Wheaton flipped the script on the Lady Reds, opening the second half on an 8-0 run with six straight points coming from Hannah Frazier. Tied at 40 later in the third quarter, Two free throws by Kristi Demski and five points from Frazier pushed the lead to seven. Carthage once again closed the quarter with a late jumper to cut the lead to 49-44. Frazier scored 16 of Wheaton's 23 points in the third quarter while the Thunder shot 53.3% from the field.

A 13-2 Thunder run through the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter ballooned Wheaton's lead a game-high 12 points at 57-45, but Sammie Woodward and the Lady Reds refused to go easily. Woodward traded three-pointers with the Thunder and her fifth triple of the game pulled Carthage back to within five points at 62-57 with 49 seconds to play. That was the closest the hosts would get as Frazier and the Thunder closed the game at the free throw line with Frazier connecting on five-of-six attempts in a six-second span to put the finishing touches on the 68-57 victory.

Hannahs Frazier, Williams, and Swider all finished the game scoring in double figures led by Frazier's 25 points and five rebounds. Hannah Williams scored 13 points to go with five rebounds and five assists and Hannah Swider finished at 10 points. Kristi Demski grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and also had a game-high four blocked shots. Sammie Woodward led all scorers with 28 points.

Wheaton will be back in action on Wednesday, January 29, when the Thunder host Millikin for a 7 pm tip-off at King Arena.

Note Worthy: With her 25 points tonight, Hannah Frazier moved past Kathleen Fidelia (2005-09) into seventh on the program's career scoring list with 1,297 career points.