Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team withstood a frantic second half rally by the Elmhurst Bluejays on Saturday night to escape with a 59-53 victory at King Arena. Despite a nine-point lead by the Thunder after three quarters, Elmhurst rallied all the way back to tie the game in the fourth quarter before Wheaton scored the game's final six points to pull out the 59-53 victory. Wheaton improves to 13-4 overall and 5-4 in the CCIW while the Bluejays fall to 2-14 overall and 0-8 in conference action.

Wheaton struggled from the field, shooting just 28.8% (21-73) and 20% (4-20) from beyond the arc. The Thunder did excel at the foul line, converting of 13-of-14 free throw opportunities. Elmhurst shot 34% (17-50) from the field and 41.7% (10-24) from the three-point line while also excelling at the free line by shooting 81.8% (9-11). Wheaton won the battle on the boards 44-38 including a decisive 20-8 edge in offensive rebounds. The Thunder forced 23 Elmhurst turnovers including 13 Thunder steals.

The Thunder got off to a quick start, scoring the game's first eight points while holding the visitors scoreless fro nearly five minutes of play. Setting the tone for the night, Elmhurst rushed back on a 7-2 run to pull within three points. Wheaton would push the lead back to five down the stretch before the Bluejays pulled within 14-12 in the final seconds of the first quarter. The Bluejays would take their only lead of the game early in the second quarter on a trio of free throws to make it 15-14, but Taylor Sanders converted a second-chance opportunity a minute later to put Wheaton back on top and followed soon after with another second chance lay-in to pad the Thunder lead. Wheaton could not shake the Bluejays, but a buzzer-beating lay-in by Hannah Swider gave the Thunder a 28-22 halftime advantage.

Both offenses kicked things up a notch in the third quarter, with Wheaton delivering a blow out of the halftime break by running off 10-straight points on the back of a personal eight-point run by Hannah Swider to take their largest lead of the game at 38-24 midway through the third quarter. Six-straight from the Bluejays quickly closed the gap and the visitors were able to pull back within six in the closing seconds of the quarter, but Swider again beat the buzzer to close the third, knocking down another three-pointer to hoist the Wheaton lead to 49-40 after three quarters.

After taking a 53-45 lead with seven minutes to play, the Thunder went cold from the field, going over four minutes without a field goal as Elmhurst scored eight-straight points to pull even at 53-53 midway through the fourth quarter. Swider broke the tie with a pair of free throws with 3:19 to play and made it a four-point lead with a lay-up just over 20 seconds later to put the Thunder ahead 57-53. She would then put the finishing touches on the victory with a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining to ice the 59-53 victory. After surrendering the game-tying basket, the Thunder held the Bluejays scoreless over the final 4:58 of the fourth quarter.

Swider finished the game with a game-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Annika Richardson tallied 13 points and six rebounds and Caroline Sikkink posted a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double to go with four steals and three assists.