Decatur, Ill. -- The Wheaton women's basketball team hit the road on Wednesday for a tough test against a surging Millikin side, and the Big Blue emerged victorious, taking down the Thunder, 68-48, to win their sixth consecutive conference game. Tonight's loss drops Wheaton's record to 10-4 overall and 2-4 in CCIW play. Annika Richardson continued her hot streak from the floor, leading Wheaton with 21 points, and Ellie Cassel claimed ten points and seven rebounds in an all-action performance.   

The first quarter began brightly for the visitors, as Richardson picked up where she left off in last week's meeting with North Park by knocking down a three. But Millikin responded with an 8-2 run, and Wheaton's only lead of the first half proved to be short-lived. Halfway through the first quarter, Cassel registered her first points to cut the deficit down to two, but the home side answered with a jumper on their next possession to give themselves a 12-8 edge. Millikin's lead reached as high as nine points in the closing minutes of the period, but back-to-back baskets from Richardson helped Wheaton end the quarter at a more manageable five-point disadvantage. A layup from Cassel and a Lily Schwen free throw reduced the hosts' lead to two points at the start of the second quarter, but Millikin regained their composure and rattled off five straight points to keep Wheaton at arm's length. The period continued in see-saw fashion, with Wheaton picking up steam from the floor and cutting into Millikin's lead, only for the Big Blue to respond with a run of their own. The home side stretched their edge to eight with less than a minute remaining in the half, but an Ana Mooney layup and an Annika Richardson three-pointer gave the Thunder some momentum heading into halftime, despite trailing the conference leaders, 30-27. 

The second half got off to the same kind of start as the second quarter, but this time it was Millikin scoring first and Wheaton responding with a sizable run. After the Big Blue pushed their lead to seven at 34-27, two Cassel free throws, a Richardson three-pointer and interior jumper combo, and a fastbreak layup courtesy of Hannah Swider gave the Thunder their first advantage since the opening possession of the game. Unfortunately for the traveling squad, this was to be their best series of the second half, as the remainder of the game was dominated by the home tea. Halfway through the third quarter, Millikin forced a steal and cashed in on the other end of the floor to knot the score up at 36 apiece. The Big Blue then took a timeout to regroup and slow the game down, and this proved to be a decisive turning point in the contest. Millikin outscored Wheaton 32-12 down the stretch, and once the balanced attack of the home side found its groove, the visitors had no answer. Millikin led by eleven points heading into the fourth quarter of play. Ellie Cassel hit a jumper on the first possession of the final period to cut the deficit to nine points, but Millikin dropped in a three half a minute later, and the Big Blue's lead never dipped below ten points in the closing stages of Wednesday's contest. After making things interesting for much of the game, Wheaton ran out of gas and Millikin stepped on the pedal to pull away for the win. 

As a team, Wheaton shot 31% from the floor on Wednesday evening, with the second quarter being their most accurate period at a 37.5% clip. The Thunder started out relatively well from beyond the arc, but were an ice cold 0-5 in the fourth quarter, dropping their three-point percentage to 28.6% for the game. Conversely, the team shot 50% from the free throw line through the first three quarters but posted a perfect 3-3 mark in the final period to bring their tally up to 61.5%. Millikin out-shot the Thunder by nine percentage points overall throughout the contest, but actually finished with lower marks in the three-point and free throw categories, going just 27.3% and 44.4%, respectively. Points off turnovers and points in the paint ultimately made the difference on Wednesday, as Millikin claimed 30-13 and 34-22 advantages in those areas. The home side also generated more production off the bench than Wheaton, earning 18 points to the Thunder's seven.

The rookie Richardson collected five rebounds, dished out two assists, and forced two steals to go with her high-scoring night. In addition to her double-figure scoreline and strong showing on the glass, Cassel also picked up two assists and led all players with three blocks. Hannah Swider joined her aforementioned teammates on seven rebounds and two steals while putting up four points of her own. Lily Schwen had another Swiss army knife performance, going for three points, three assists, two steals, and five rebounds. Fellow sophomore Caroline Sikkink also claimed three points and assists, while blocking one shot and leading the Thunder with eight rebounds across four quarters. Finally, Caylee Hermanson contributed off the bench by scoring three points, grabbing five boards, and making one block.

The Thunder will look to get back into the win column on Saturday when they play host to neighbors North Central at 5 PM in King Arena.