Oshkosh, Wis. – The Wheaton women's basketball team began the first of six-consecutive road contests as the Thunder faced UW-Platteville on Friday night in the opening day of the UW-Oshkosh Classic. The Pioneers (4-1) defeated the Thunder 58-49 as Wheaton falls to 3-2 on the season.
Senior
Annika Richardson led the Thunder 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior
Kate Oliver contributed 11 points with 10 rebounds for the Thunder, and she added two blocked shots.
Jenna Hunter scored seven points off the Thunder bench as
Lily Caddow and
Alyssa Faberowski each chipped in five points, with Caddow adding five rebounds.
The Thunder posted a 34.5% field goal percentage (20-of-58), with 20.7% (6-of-29) from three-point range. The Pioneers posted a 36.5% (19-of-52) field goal percentage, including 25% (5-of-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 75% (3-for-4) at the free throw line and UW-Platteville had a 71.4% (15-of-21) effort at the charity stripe. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Thunder 35-32, with a 10-8 advantage for the Thunder on the offensive glass.
UW-Platteville's Ella Mackiewicz led all players with a game-high 20 points, with five rebounds. Addison Baierl scored 11 points with seven rebounds.
The Pioneers scored the first five points of the game and led the Thunder 21-8 at the end of the first quarter. Wheaton chipped away at the UW-Platteville lead in the second quarter and got as close as six points when the Pioneers led 29-23 with 2:30 left in the first half. The Pioneers led by nine at the halftime intermission as they held a 34-25 lead.
The Pioneers responded with a strong third quarter, out-scoring the Thunder 15-10 in the quarter. UW-Platteville led by 14 points at 49-35 at the conclusion of the third quarter. Wheaton responded again in the fourth quarter, trimming the UW-Platteville lead to as few as seven points at 56-49 with 1:16 remaining in the game. That was as close as the Thunder could get as the Pioneers earned the 58-49 victory.
Wheaton faces eighth-ranked UW-Oshkosh tomorrow afternoon in a 3:15 p.m. tipoff to conclude the tournament.
