Wheaton, Ill. -- After three straight defeats in conference play, the Wheaton women's basketball team was determined to get back to winning ways when they faced North Central in King Arena on Saturday evening. Fortunately for the home side, their shots started falling, and the momentum generated by three quarters of dominant play was enough to earn the desired outcome. The Thunder outscored their Naperville neighbors, 67-54, and improved to 11-4 overall and 3-4 in CCIW action as a result.  

The game began in rip-roaring fashion despite a low point total on the scoreboard. Annika Richardson buried a three just ten seconds into the contest, and North Central did their best to respond in kind by firing off four shots in quick succession, but none of them found the target. The two teams traded misses and turnovers until Caroline Sikkink converted a basket two minutes in to bump Wheaton's lead up to two possessions. North Central did not register their first points of the game until the 3:43 mark, and by this time, the Thunder's advantage was already nine points courtesy of back-to-back jumpers from Hannah Swider. The Cardinals then dropped in a layup to cut Wheaton's lead to four, but two free throws from Richardson and an Ana Mooney bucket prevented the visitors from going on an extended run. After three more points from both teams, Wheaton held a 16-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. Coming off the back of exchanged layups at the start of the second, Richardson scored the next five points to push Wheaton's lead as high as 13. While the Thunder did not manage to put the game out of reach in the first half, cold shooting from the Cardinals, solid defensive pressure from the home side, and semi-frequent scoring was enough to prevent the away team from trimming Wheaton's lead before halftime. Another Annika Richardson layup at the horn gave the Thunder a 33-19 lead heading into the locker room.

The third quarter proved more difficult for the winning side, as the Cardinals shot 59% from the floor and knocked down four three-pointers to make things interesting on the scoreboard. Two free throws from Lily Schwen and an Ellie Cassel jumper gave Wheaton their largest lead of the night at 17 points with six minutes remaining in the quarter. But North Central proceeded to mount a 12-2 run and force the home side into making mistakes and missing shots at a higher volume than they did in the entire first half. North Central cut Wheaton's lead to eight, before Richardson drained another three-pointer and Caylee Hermanson added a jumper to re-establish the Thunder's advantage into double digits. But the trailing team would have the last laugh of the quarter, as a three-ball and a buzzer-beating layup in the paint ratcheted up the pressure on the home team and saw Wheaton's lead move back down to six. The Thunder turned the ball over on their first possession of the final quarter, and another North Central deep shot meant that Wheaton's lead of 17 of just a few minutes prior had nearly vanished. Fortunately for the hosts, they sprang a five-point run of their own at a critical point in the contest, and this proved to be enough to keep North Central at bay for the rest of the evening. The Cardinals hit a three-point shot at the seven-minute mark to make it a 56-50 game, but Wheaton scored the next nine points over the following six minutes of action, and the visitors only converted one more shot from open play in the remainder of the game. After grabbing a defensive rebound and drawing the subsequent foul, two free throws from Richardson in the final seconds helped cap the 67-54 scoreline. While Wheaton ultimately did enough to earn the victory across the four quarters of play, they will also be grateful for North Central's dramatic cooling-off period in the decisive quarter, as it looked like the visitors might steal a win inside King Arena.

Wheaton finished the game with a field goal percentage of 38.7 - five ticks higher than their conference foes. The Thunder went just 5-20 from behind the three-point line, but this was offset by Wheaton's excellent free throw percentage of 93.3%, earning the home side some valuable points down the stretch. The team out-rebounded North Central by a 45-37 margin over the course of the game, as well as winning the turnover battle by a margin of three. Capitalizing off of opponent mistakes and cashing in on follow-up opportunities was where Wheaton gained their advantage in Saturday's contest. The hosts earned 23 points off of turnovers compared to the visitors' 14, and Wheaton created 11 second chance points for themselves while the Cardinals had to settle for only three.  

Annika Richardson led the way for the Thunder once again tonight, as the freshman earned her first double-double of her collegiate career. The rookie with the hot hand approached a new season-high point total by dropping in 28, including going 4-7 from beyond the arc. She grabbed ten rebounds, forced three steals, dished out a pair of assists, blocked one shot, and went a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line to round out another star performance. Hannah Swider also hit double figures on the scoreline, as the senior rattled off 13 points to go with seven rebounds, three steals, an assist, and a block. Ellie Cassel was another player who made her presence felt on both ends of the floor, registering seven boards, six points, and two pairs of steals and assists along with one blocked shot. Sophomore transfer Caroline Sikkink added four points, five rebounds, three steals, and an assist to her name. Point guard Lily Schwen led the team in assists again on Saturday, earning four, combined with five rebounds and three points from the charity stripe. Finally, Caylee Hermanson provided a spark off the bench, going for nine points (including a clutch three-pointer late on to help Wheaton ice the game away), four rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
 
After picking up a much-needed win, Wheaton will look to build on tonight's encouraging performance when they host Augustana on Wednesday at 7 PM.