Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team (11-1, 11-1 CCIW) hosted North Central (2-10, 2-10 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon in the final scheduled game of the shortened 2021 regular season. Wheaton returns to action next Thursday night, hosting a quarterfinal game of the 2021 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament. Wheaton will serve as the No. 1 seed of the tournament.

Seniors Bonnie Zeller and Hannah Williams (PICTURED LEFT WITH WHEATON COACHING STAFF) were honored prior to the game as part of "Senior Day" for the duo. The 13^th-ranked Thunder emerged with a 73-58 victory against the Cardinals thanks to a strong second half for the hosts. Wheaton out-scored North Central 46-30 in the second half, including 23-13 in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Annie Tate led the Thunder with a career-high 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and an 11-for-12 effort at the free throw line. Tate also registered her third career "double-double" with 14 points.

Zeller (PICTURED RIGHT) tied her career high with 11 points today and she collected four rebounds. Williams scored eight points with four rebounds and four assists. Lily Schwen added four assists for the hosts and Ellie Cassel grabbed 10 rebounds with a blocked shot.

The Thunder shot 42.9% (24-of-56) from the field today, including 26.1% (6-for-23) from three-point range. North Central registered a 37.1% (23-of-62) field goal percentage, including 28.6% (4-of-14) behind the three-point arc. The hosts shot 86.4% (19-of-22) at the free throw line and North Central had a 53.3% (8-of-15) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton was strong on the glass today, out-rebounding the Cardinals 44-30 in the game. Wheaton held a 13-12 in offensive rebounding.

Wheaton led the Cardinals 17-16 at the end of the first quarter. North Central had a strong stretch in the second quarter and built up their largest lead of the game with a five-point bulge at 28-23 with 4:40 remaining in the first half. The Thunder scored the final four points of the quarter to trim the guests' lead to 28-27 at halftime. The key basket for Wheaton was a Schwen three-pointer with 17-seconds remaining before the end of the second quarter.

The Thunder started the third quarter strong with an 8-1 run to take a 35-29 lead with 7:52 remaining in the quarter. North Central battled back to take a two-point lead at 41-39 with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter. Wheaton closed the quarter with an 11-4 scoring surge to give the hosts a 50-45 lead at the end of third quarter. Tate scored eight of Wheaton's 11 points in the key run.

Wheaton played well in the final quarter out-scoring the Cardinals 23-13 in the final 10 minutes. Tate scored nine points for Wheaton in the quarter, contributing seven rebounds. Tate tallied a second-half "double-double" with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the final 20 minutes. She shot 6-of-8 from the field in the second half, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. She was 7-of-7 at the free throw line in the final 20 minutes.

Mitrese Smith and Allison Pearson each led the Cardinals with a team-high 13 points. IxChel Leeuwenburg scored 11 points with a team-high six rebounds for the guests.