Wheaton, Ill. - The fourth seeded Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team hosted No. 5 seed Illinois Wesleyan (16-10) on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal contest of the 2023 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament. The Titans emerged with a 67-47 victory to advance to the tournament semifinals on Friday in Decatur, Illinois. IWU will face top seed Millikin at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Wheaton concludes the season with a 15-11 overall record.

Caroline Sikkink led the Thunder with 11 points and six rebounds tonight. Annika Richardson scored eight points, with six rebounds, three assists and three steals for the hosts. Ellie Cassel tallied eight points, with a team-high 11 rebounds and four steals off of the Thunder bench. Anna Fernandez scored six points for the Thunder.

Wheaton had a cold shooting night with a 28.1% (16-of-57) field goal percentage, including 5.6% (1-of-18) from three-point range. Illinois Wesleyan shot 43.9% (25-of-57) from the field, including 37.5% (6-for-16) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 66.7% (14-of-21) at the free throw line and the Titans had a 50% (11-of-22) effort at the charity stripe. Each team collected 41 rebounds tonight with a 15-11 edge on the offensive glass for the Thunder.

The Titans jumped out to a 15-2 lead in the first five and a half minutes of tonight's game and never trailed the Thunder. The guests led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter and held a 34-18 lead at halftime. The largest IWU lead of the game was a 26-point bulge in the fourth quarter.

Sawyer White led the Titans with 22 points, two assists and two steals. Katelyn Heller scored 14 points with six rebounds, and five assists. Lauren Huber tallied 13 points with 13 rebounds, four steals and four assists. Kelly Carlson had nine points and two steals for the guests.