Waukesha, Wis. -- The Wheaton women's basketball team saw their three-game winning run halted on Wednesday night, as the Carroll Pioneers fought off the Thunder, 57-47, in Wisconsin. With this defeat, Wheaton falls to 5-5 in conference play and 13-5 overall. Hannah Swider led all scorers with 14 points, while Ellie Cassel approached a double-double by contributing eight points and six rebounds.

Cassel registered the first basket of the night, knocking down a jumper 20 seconds into proceedings. But it would take nearly two minutes of game time for the Thunder to score again, before Cassel doubled up by tying the game at 4-4. The initial half of the first quarter was a defensive battle as both teams committed turnovers and struggled to create any offensive rhythm. At the five minute mark, however, the shots began to fall. Carroll converted a layup in the paint to take a 6-4 lead, before Swider immediately answered with a jumper to level things up. Ana Mooney then gave Wheaton their first edge of the night by capitalizing on a Swider steal to earn a fastbreak jumper. 70 seconds later, Hannah Swider got the ball from Taylor Sanders off of an offensive rebound and knocked down Wheaton's first three-pointer of the game to give the Thunder an 11-6 advantage. The two sides then traded baskets, and a Caroline Sikkink jumper in the paint with 20 seconds to go pushed the scoreline to 13-9 in Wheaton's favor at the end of the first quarter.

Sikkink went from scorer to defender on the first possession of the second quarter by forcing a steal and assisting Swider's subsequent shot from range. The Pioneers scored in the lane on their next possession, but after weathering two turnovers, Wheaton got the ball back and Caylee Hermanson sank a three-ball to give the visitors their largest lead of the night at 19-11. Unfortunately, the Thunder then went cold from the field for the next five minutes of play and allowed their hosts to mount an 8-0 run to tie the game. Taylor Sanders laid the ball in with 2:35 remaining in the half to break Wheaton's dry spell and restore a two-point cushion. The Pios cut it to 24-23 heading into the final possession, but Hermanson dropped in a jumper as time expired to solidify the Thunder's halftime edge at three points.

The home side missed a three-point attempt on their first possession of the second half but converted back-to-back jumpers to reclaim the lead for the first time since it was 6-4 in the first quarter. A Carroll layup 50 seconds later extended the hosts' advantage, but Hannah Swider splashed in a three at the 6:20 mark to tie the game at 29 apiece. Not satisfied with just one, the senior repeated the trick by sinking another deep-ball on the next offensive possession to restore Wheaton's advantage. Hermanson then answered a Carroll layup with a jumper of her own, and Wheaton seemed determined to stay out in front of their opposition. With just under three minutes to go in the period, an Annika Richardson shot from beyond the arc was sandwiched in between two threes from the Pioneers and the score was tied at 37. A shooting foul by Wheaton gave Carroll a chance to take the lead at the 1:14 point in the third quarter, and from this time on, the home side held the advantage for the rest of the game. Carroll added two jump shots and another free throw in the final minute to give themselves a comfortable 44-37 spread heading into the fourth quarter. Halfway through the final period, Caylee Hermanson converted a jumper to cut the Pioneer lead to five points, but this was as close as Wheaton came to leveling the scoreline down the stretch. Carroll finished off their chances and held Wheaton to zero three-point attempts in the final quarter as the Thunder struggled to find a way back into the game. After a competitive, back-and-forth affair through the first three quarters, the Pioneers ultimately closed it out in a relatively straightforward manner.

Logically, Carroll out-shot Wheaton on the night, but only by a 39%-37% edge. The Thunder did manage to win the three-point contest by a considerable margin, posting a 43% mark to Carroll's meager 20% effort. But free-throw shooting hurt Wheaton's chances of a comeback, as the visitors finished just 1-10 in the game and went 0-5 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. While Wheaton claimed the second chance points category, Carroll held the advantage in all other areas, including a 28-14 gulf in points in the paint and a 22-13 edge in points off of turnovers.

In addition to her game-high 14 points, Swider led the team with three steals and posted Wheaton's only block of the contest. Annika Richardson had a rare off-night in terms of scoring, settling for seven points on Wednesday, but the freshman also contributed four rebounds and a pair of takeaways. Caroline Sikkink led the way on the glass with nine boards while also earning two steals and as many points. Lily Schwen dished out six more assists to go with a pair of rebounds and a steal. Caylee Hermanson was Wheaton's second-highest scorer, contributing nine points off the bench as well as three rebounds. Taylor Sanders had perhaps her most well-rounded performance of the campaign so far, as the senior went for five points, six boards, three assists, and a steal to provide a spark off the bench.    

After tonight's setback, Wheaton will look to rally ahead of a tricky test at North Central on Saturday evening. The Thunder head to Naperville seeking their second conference road win of the season.