Claremont, Calif. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team opened its two-game trip to Southern California on Friday with a matchup at Pomona-Pitzer (2-8). The Thunder hung on to defeat the Sagehens 84-81 in overtime. Wheaton improves to 8-3 overall and will close out its trip tomorrow afternoon at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Annie Tate led the Thunder with 26 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
Kate Oliver scored 21 points, with 10 rebounds for a "double-double". Oliver added five assists to her impressive effort tonight as well.
Alyssa Faberowski scored 14 points off the Thunder bench, contributing five assists.
Annika Richardson tallied 11 points, with 12 rebounds and three assists.
Ana Mooney and
Alexis Martin each scored six points for the Thunder.
Wheaton shot 51.6% (33-of-64) from the field, including 25% (4-of-16) behind the three-point arc. The Sagehens posted a 47.8% (32-of-67) field goal percentage, including 50% (14-of-28) from three-point range. The Thunder shot 66.7% (14-of-21) at the free throw line and Pomona-Pitzer shot 100% (3-of-3) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the hosts 40-23, including a 10-2 edge on the offensive glass as Wheaton out-scored the Sagehens 14-0 in second-chance points. The Thunder dominated inside with a 56-28 advantage in the paint.
Jadyn Lee led Pomona-Pitzer with 27 points, four assists and nine rebounds. Abigail Homan scored 20 points, with five assists for the hosts. Emily Lee scored 16 points, with 10 scored by Ali Bennett.
Wheaton scored the first seven points of the game tonight in the first two minutes of the contest. The Thunder continued their strong play throughout the quarter as the guests led by 10 points at 23-13 at the conclusion of the first quarter. Tate scored 16 of Wheaton's 23 points in the opening period.
The Thunder led by as much as 12 points, Wheaton's largest lead of the game, on three occasions in the second quarter. The final 12-point lead of the quarter was a 29-17 Wheaton advantage with 8:00 remaining in the first half. The Thunder led 33-23 with 6:00 remaining in the second quarter. The Sagehens out-scored the Thunder 13-4 to close out the last six minutes of the first half, as Wheaton led 37-36 at the halftime intermission. Oliver scored eight points, with two assists in the second quarter.
Wheaton led 49-48 with 4:00 remaining in the third quarter. The Sagehens responded with five-consecutive points to give them a 53-49 lead. The hosts maintained a lead for the rest of the third quarter as Pomona-Pitzer led 59-55 at the conclusion of the quarter. Faberowski scored eight points to lead the Thunder in the third quarter.
The Sagehens led 61-59 with 6:39 left in the fourth quarter when Mooney drained a three-pointer that gave Wheaton a 62-61 lead. There were eight lead changes following Mooney's trey. Lee Made a pair of free throws for the hosts with one second left in the game to tie the contest at 73-73 and send it to overtime. Tate scored six fourth-quarter points for the Thunder and Oliver added five points.
Faberowski made a layup to open the scoring in the overtime period. Richardson made one of two free throw attempts with 3:53 left to give the Thunder a 76-73 advantage. Faberowski made a layup with 2:46 left in overtime to give the Thunder a 78-73 advantage. Lee made a field goal on the Sagehens' next possession, but Oliver responded with a layup to give the Thunder an 80-75 lead with 2:13 remaining. Lee made a three-pointer on the hosts' next possession to cut the Wheaton lead to 80-78, but Richardson responded with a layup that increased Wheaton's lead to 82-78 with 54-seconds left in the overtime. Tate made two free throws to increase Wheaton's lead to 84-78 with 37-seconds remaining. Bennett made a three-pointer with 34-seconds remaining to cut Wheaton's lead to three-points at 84-81. A Thunder shot attempt with eight seconds left was no good and the Sagehens had an opportunity to tie the game in the closing seconds, however, a three-point attempt did not go in and Wheaton held on for the 84-81 win.
