Notre Dame, Ind. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team improved to 4-0 on the season with a 77-44 victory at St. Mary's (Ind.) on Friday night. The Thunder will travel to Ripon College on Tuesday night for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.

The Wheaton offense got consistent production tonight from multiple players as six Thunder players scored eight or more points for the 'Orange and Blue'. Caroline Sikkink scored 12 points, with six rebounds. The senior also distributed three assists and snatched five steals. Annie Tate tied Sikkink for the game's scoring lead as she scored 12 points, with six rebounds, and two assists.

Annika Richardson scored 11 points, with seven rebounds for the guests. Kate Oliver scored 10 points, with five rebounds, and three blocked shots in 18 minutes of action. Alyssa Faberowski tallied nine points with a team-high nine rebounds, adding two assists. Faberowski shot 3-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-3 behind the three-point arc. Alexis Martin tallied eight points off of Wheaton's bench.

The Thunder shot a 43.5% (27-of-62) field goal percentage, including 28.6% (6-for-21) from three-point range. The Belles shot 27.9% (17-of-61) from the field, including 27.3% (6-for-22) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton out-rebounded the hosts 47-33, including an 18-14 advantage on the offensive glass.

The effectiveness of the Thunder offense was shown with a 20-4 advantage in fast break points. The guests out-scored the Belles 34-18 in the paint and the Wheaton bench out-scored SMC's reserves 37-23.
Wheaton scored the game's first eight points as the Thunder led 8-0 with 4:55 remaining in the first quarter. The guests continued to impress in the opening period as Wheaton led 18-3 at the end of the first quarter.

St. Mary's battled back in the second quarter as the hosts cut their deficit to 10 points at 27-17 with 3:00 left in the second quarter. Wheaton scored the final five points of the first half as the guests led 32-17 at the halftime intermission.

Tate led Wheaton in first-half scoring as she tallied 10 points, and Richardson added nine points. Oliver and Richardson each collected five rebounds for the Thunder.

The guests continued to impress in the third quarter. Wheaton's largest lead of the game was a 30-point edge at 57-27 to conclude the third quarter. Petra Trumbach made a three-pointer with 5:44 remaining in the game to give Wheaton its largest lead of the game at 67-29. Wheaton effectively closed out the game in earning the 77-44 victory.

Martin led Wheaton's second-half scoring with eight points. Sikkink, Oliver and Faberowski each scored six for the guests. Faberowski grabbed five rebounds in the final 20 minutes.

Kate Restovich and Lauren Gumma each scored eight points for St. Mary's to lead the Belles' offense tonight. Athena Samson grabbed 10 rebounds for the hosts, while Mary Kate Gareau collected seven boards.