Waukesha, Wis. - A blistering third quarter helped the Thunder women's basketball team overcome a halftime deficit and roll to a 71-54 victory on Wednesday night. After surrendering the final 14 points of the first half to trial by three at halftime, Wheaton outscored the Pioneers 29-8 in the decisive third quarter to pull away for the victory and improve to 18-6 overall and 11-4 in the CCIW. Carroll falls to 8-16 and 3-12 in conference play. Wheaton's victory coupled with Millikin's win over North Park guarantees the Thunder at least a share of the conference title for the fifth time in the last six season. Wheaton will look to clinch the outright conference championship on Saturday night when the Thunder host North Central at 5 pm in the regular season finale.

Despite shooting below 30 percent in the second and fourth quarters, Wheaton finished the game shooting 41.8% (28-67) from the field and 38.1% (8-21) from the three-point line. Carroll finished at 39.1% (18-46) from the field and just 2-12 (16.7%) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers did make 80 % of their 20 free throw attempts while Wheaton shot 7-9 (77.8%) at the charity stripe. Wheaton held a commanding 34-25 rebounding advantage including a 15-4 edge in offensive rebounds.

Wheaton got off the bus ready to go as the Thunder led 13-4 midway through the first stanza, forcing a Carroll timeout to regroup. Wheaton pushed the lead to as high as 20-6 before settling for a 21-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Wheaton's lead continued to hold at 11, leading the Pioneers 27-16 following a jumper by Hannah Williams with 4:14 to play in the first half, but that would be the last points Wheaton would score prior to halftime. Carroll took advantage of Wheaton foul trouble to run off the final 14 points of the half and take a 30-27 lead into the locker room.

The Thunder wasted no time reclaiming the momentum to start the second half. Kirsten Madsen erased the Pioneer lead on the opening possession of the half and Wheaton needed just over a minute and a half to score seven straight points and force a Carroll timeout with the Thunder leading 35-30. Wheaton would extend its run to 22-4 taking a 49-34 lead on a three-point play by Hannah Frazier with 3:03 left in the third quarter. A fast break lay-up by Hannah Williams temporarily pushed the Thunder lead to 20 points before a late Pioneer basket cut the Thunder lead to 56-38 at the end of the third quarter. When the dust settled, Wheaton finished the quarter shooting 75% from the field (12-16) and making four of their five three-point attempts.

Carroll would get no closer than 13 points in the final quarter and Wheaton led by as many as 21 en route to the 71-54 victory.

Hannah Frazier and Hannah Williams each finished with a game-high 18 points. Frazier also added six rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots. Williams also tallied six assists. Kristi Demski finished with nine points, Kirsten Madsen added eight, and Jill Berg finished with a game-high seven rebounds.

With tonight's win, Wheaton has now won at least 18 games in all 10 seasons under head coach Kent Madsen. Wheaton's 10-straight seasons of 18 or more wins is the second longest streak in program history trailing only a 12-season streak from 1995-2007.