Redlands, Calif. -- The Wheaton women's basketball team won their fifth straight game to open the 2021-22 season by defeating the Chapman Panthers on the first day of the Redlands University Tip-Off Classic in California. Friday evening's 65-50 victory allowed the eleventh-ranked team in the country to maintain their hot streak and set the stage for a Saturday showdown between the Thunder and the tournament hosts, the Redlands Bulldogs.

Preseason All-American Annie Tate ran the show for Wheaton once again, putting up 28 points, snagging 14 rebounds, and earning her third double-double of the season thus far. Caylee Hermanson, Ellie Cassel, and Lily Schwen were the Thunder's next highest scorers, with seven points, six, and six, respectively. Cassel secured 11 rebounds and Zoe Nordling added nine of her own. Hermanson and Nordling each had a pair of steals, and Tate went a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line to round off the individual stat leaders for the Thunder.

Two layups from Annie Tate got the scoring underway on the night, and it took the Panthers five possessions to register their first basket of the contest. Julianna Campas scored the first three buckets of the game for Chapman, and her three-pointer four minutes into the first quarter gave the Panthers a 7-4 lead. Wheaton trailed for a majority of the opening period, as the two teams traded baskets back and forth. A Chapman layup on their final possession following a Thunder turnover gave the Panthers a 13-10 advantage and brought a close to a sloppy first quarter by Wheaton's standards.

The second period began much like the first - with a Wheaton layup, this time from Nordling to cut the deficit back down to one. But Chapman kept their foot on the gas offensively and successfully kept Wheaton at bay in the next few minutes. It wasn't until back-to-back baskets from Tate midway through the quarter that the Thunder managed to regain the lead at 20-19. After the Panthers reclaimed the advantage at a 23-20 tilt, Wheaton went on an 8-0 run to end the half and build a lead that they would hold for the remainder of the contest. Another Tate layup, two clutch jumpers courtesy of Taylor Sanders, and a Lily Schwen basket in the paint were the catalyst for the Thunder springing to life at the conclusion of the quarter.

After the sides exchanged free throws to kick off the second half, a three-pointer from Hermanson gave Wheaton a comfortable eight-point cushion two and a half minutes into the third. Two points from the charity stripe for Zoe Nordling and a Caroline Sikkink layup twice gave Wheaton a ten-point advantage, and the Panthers were unable to wear Wheaton's lead down to within five at any point in the rest of the quarter. Following another Sikkink layup and two free throw conversions by Chapman, the Thunder held a 43-37 margin at the end of the penultimate period.

Schwen registered a layup on the second possession of the fourth quarter to push Wheaton's lead back up to eight, but two Panther scores in the minutes that followed sliced that advantage in half and set up a potentially razor-thin final scoreline. But the Thunder responded in a professional way befitting of a Top 15 team by mounting a run of eight straight points to essentially put the game out of the Panthers' reach. A layup from Cassel put the score at 53-41 in Wheaton's favor with just under five minutes remaining. Chapman made two shots of their own in the next 80 seconds, but it never felt like the Thunder's lead was truly under threat. These baskets were followed by a barren stretch of more than two minutes which saw both teams fail to register a single point. A layup from Annie Tate that arrived just ten seconds after Chapman put up two more points restored Wheaton's eight-point control, and from that point on, it became a free-throw shooting contest. The Thunder held their nerve from the line, as Tate knocked down six, Hannah Swider made a pair, and Ellie Cassel chipped in with a couple of her own to ultimately give Wheaton a flattering 15-point margin of victory at the final horn.

Unsurprisingly, the Thunder had the better night from the floor, shooting 41.4% across all four quarters to Chapman's 30% mark. Both teams had a dismal night from beyond the arc, combining for just two successful three-point attempts, but Wheaton and Chapman were decidedly better from the free throw line, posting 84.2% and 87.5% numbers, respectively. Second chance points (14 to 6 advantage) and bench points (22 to Chapman's ten) were arguably the biggest factors in Wheaton's eventual pull-away victory. But the most eye-catching disparity in the team stat lines goes to the points in the paint category, with the Thunder outscoring their opponents by a 42-24 margin from close range.

Wheaton will take the court in Redlands once again on Saturday, this time to face the home-based Bulldogs. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 PM local time, and the Thunder will be hoping to improve to 6-0 and put a ribbon on a successful West Coast adventure.