Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team battled to final seconds but fell just short tonight in a 69-67 loss at home against Augustana (14-7, 8-4 CCIW). Wheaton is now 12-9 overall on the season with a 7-5 record in CCIW play.
 
Thunder junior Caroline Sikkink led Wheaton with 20 points, four assists and two steals. Freshman Kate Oliver tallied 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Fellow freshman Anna Fernandez tallied her second career 'double-double' with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while adding two assists. Annika Richardson scored 10 points with nine rebounds and three assists. Lily Schwen scored six points and she grabbed six rebounds.
 
Wheaton posted a 38.1% (24-of-63) field goal percentage tonight, including 38.9% (7-of-18) from three-point range. The Vikings shot 41.1% (23-of-56) from the floor, including 42.3% (11-of-26) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 75% (12-of-16) at the free throw line and the guests had a 66.7% (12-of-18) effort at the charity stripe. Augustana held a 38-37 advantage in rebounding and the Thunder owned a 13-11 edge on the offensive glass. Augustana committed 18 turnovers, helping Wheaton to a 24-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
At the end of the game's first six minutes, Wheaton led 10-0. Wheaton emerged from a sluggish first quarter holding a 12-6 lead. Sikkink and Oliver each scored four points in the opening quarter to lead the hosts.
Wheaton continued its strong play into the first 3:15 of the second quarter. Fernandez drained a three-pointer with 6:50 remaining in the first half to give Wheaton its largest lead of the game with a 12-point bulge at 20-8. The Vikings responded with a 13-2 run to trim the Thunder lead to one at 22-21 with 45-seconds left in the second quarter. Wheaton scored the final three points of the opening half to own a 25-21 halftime lead. Fernandez led the Thunder with six points in the second quarter.

Augustana committed 12 of its 18 turnovers in the first half as Wheaton's edge in points off turnovers in the first half was 16-3. Oliver scored a team-high eight points off the bench in the first half.

The Vikings turned the ball over on their opening possession of the second half and Richardson capitalized with a basket to give Wheaton a 27-21 lead with 9:43 remaining in the third quarter. An action packed three minutes followed Richardson's basket as Augustana out-scored the Thunder 15-5 to take a 36-32 lead with 6:30 left in the third quarter. The Vikings maintained a lead for the remainder of the quarter as the guests led 51-45 at the end of the third period. Augustana out-scored Wheaton 30-20 in the third quarter as the Vikings' 30 points in the quarter was a drastic improvement on their 21 points in the first half. Sikkink scored nine of Wheaton's 20 points in the third quarter.
 
The Vikings continued to maintain a lead as the guests led 58-54 with 5:10 remaining in regulation when Fernandez made a three-pointer that trimmed the Augie lead to 58-57. Richardson made one of her two free throw attempts on the next Wheaton possession to tie the game at 58-58. Augustana's Macy Beinborn made a three-pointer on the guests' next possession to give her team a 61-58 lead with 4:23 left in the game.

The Vikings led 62-58 with 2:08 remaining in regulation when Fernandez drained another three-pointer that again cut the guests' lead to one point at 62-61. Augustana's Emily Brenneisen responded with a three-pointer that gave her team a 65-61 lead with 55-seconds left in the game. An offensive rebound by Richardson on a Thunder miss was distributed to Oliver who made a three-pointer that cut the guests' lead to 65-64.

Augustana made a pair of free throws to gain a 67-64 lead. Wheaton would not be deterred as the Oliver made a layup to cut the Augie lead to 67-66. The Thunder fouled the Vikings on the guests' next possession and Augustana made one of the two attempts to increase the lead to 68-66. Wheaton turned the ball over on its next possession and the hosts again fouled Augustana. The Vikings again made one of two free throws to give Augie a three-point lead at 69-66 with less than five seconds left.

Augustana fouled Wheaton on a three-point attempt with 0.7-seconds left in regulation. The first Thunder free throw bounced off the rim and was no good. The second attempt was good. The third free throw attempt was intentionally missed for a final attempt at a put-back basket, but Augustana's Gabriela Loiz collected the defensive rebound as time expired to secure the road win for the guests.

Beinborn led Augustana with 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Carly Stone scored 19 points for the Vikings and Loiz scored nine points with eight rebounds. Presley Case distributed six assists.
Wheaton hosts Millikin of Saturday for "Senior Night". The "Senior Night" ceremony begins at 4:55 PM with a 5:00 p.m. tipoff between the Thunder and No. 25 ranked Big Blue.