Decatur, Ill. -- After an eight-day break from competition around the Thanksgiving holiday, the Thunder women's basketball team returned to the court tonight to face Millikin University in the first CCIW contest of the season for each side. Wheaton held the Big Blue to eight points in the second quarter and scored 41 after halftime to secure a comfortable 67-53 victory and notch the program's first win in Decatur since February 2019, snapping a six-game losing streak on the road against Millikin. The Thunder's record is now 5-3 on the year and 1-0 in conference action.
Tonight's hosts began the contest with a three-pointer and quickly jumped out to a 9-4 lead. Wheaton enjoyed balanced scoring in the first quarter, with the team's opening four baskets coming from four different players. A tip-in from Wednesday's leading scorer,
Annika Richardson, reduced the Thunder's deficit to 13-10 at the end of the first frame, and Wheaton would outscore Millikin in each of the three remaining quarters to eventually claim the win.
The second quarter saw the visitors stifle the Big Blue's offensive approach, with the home side only managing four successful shots from 16 attempts and missing all six of its triples. Millikin grabbed the first two baskets of the frame to stretch its lead to 17-10, but a 14-0 run by the Thunder in the middle of the quarter gave Wheaton its first advantage of the night, and the guests would not surrender their lead in the remainder of the game. A jumper from Richardson tied the score at 19-19, before two fastbreak buckets from
Lily Caddow sandwiched a big three-pointer by
Alyssa Faberowski to propel the Thunder in front. The Big Blue finally ended their six-minute scoring drought with the last points of the first half, but Wheaton did well to establish a 26-21 tilt at the intermission.
Kate Oliver (pictured right) posted four of Wheaton's first seven points after halftime to pair nicely with one of Richardson's game-high three triples to keep Millikin at bay in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The Thunder's lead reached a double-digit margin for the first time at the 4:19 mark of the third frame, and Richardson dropped in another three-ball
to make it 42-31 in Wheaton's favor shortly after. Millikin was determined to fight back on home court and mounted an 11-0 surge either side of the quarter break to cut the visitors' lead down to 47-45 with seven minutes remaining.
But consecutive three-pointers from Richardson and Caddow helped keep the Thunder in front, and Wheaton saw the game out impressively by accounting for the final seven points of the night and allowing just one basket from Millikin in the last four minutes of play. A layup from
Grace Kizer gave Wheaton a comfortable 62-53 margin with 45 seconds left, and three different Thunder players converted free throws in the final moments to seal the road victory.
Neither team had a strong showing from beyond the arc on Wednesday, but Wheaton finished with a solid 44% shooting mark overall and held Millikin to just under 40% on the night. The Thunder also sank 15 foul shots compared to only three for the Big Blue. Millikin out-rebounded its visitor across the 40 minutes of play, but Wheaton won the turnover battle at a 16-9 line and came up with nine steals to complement its solid shooting defense. The two sides were virtually tied in points in the paint and second chance points this evening, but the Thunder posted more points off of turnovers and enjoyed a healthy 13-2 advantage in fast break scoring.
Richardson led all players with 21 points on Wednesday thanks to an 8-11 shooting mark, and she grabbed a joint game-high seven rebounds, including three on the offensive glass. Oliver matched her senior teammate on seven boards and scored 17 points while also posting two steals and a blocked shot. Faberowski had another solid outing with ten points, a block, a takeaway, and a game-best four assists. Caddow contributed nine points and a team-high three steals this evening.
Having started its CCIW slate on the right note, the Wheaton women's squad will continue its six-game stretch away from King Arena on Saturday when it travels to Elmhurst University for a 2 PM conference matchup.
