Wheaton, Ill. -- With postseason play no longer a possibility, the Wheaton women's basketball team came into Saturday's season-ending contest against North Park with one goal in mind: to send the senior class out with a victory. This mission was accomplished, as the Thunder rolled to an 83-63 win in front of the King Arena crowd to earn their fifth CCIW victory of the season. Senior Annie Tate, making her final appearance in a Wheaton uniform, was once again the star of the show, signing off with another 39 points to match the career-high figure she established in last month's home win over Elmhurst. The Thunder women's team ends its season with an overall record of 12-13 and a conference mark of 5-11.

The visiting Vikings sank a three-pointer on their first possession of the game, and Wheaton did not claim its first lead of the night until the 3:44 mark of the first quarter. But from that moment on, North Park never regained the advantage, and the hosts outscored their big city guests in all four periods to eventually secure a comfortable win.

Trailing 8-4 in the opening exchanges, a jump shot from Kate Oliver and a layup from another senior, Ana Mooney, tied the contest for the first time. Tate then sparked the run that saw the Thunder establish what would be a permanent lead with a layup in the paint to make it 12-10 in Wheaton's favor and a three-ball with two minutes left to push the home side further in front at 17-10. A 5-2 spurt at the end of the first frame saw Wheaton take a 22-15 edge into the second quarter. North Park came out firing with three triples to tie the game at 24 apiece, but Wheaton responded with a 7-0 run via Tate and Mooney baskets to pull back in front. The two sides then went back and forth in the closing stretch of the first half, but NPU struggled to contain the Thunder on the offensive end, and Wheaton enjoyed a 43-34 halftime advantage.

The consistent scoring trips continued after the intermission, and sitting on a 54-44 lead with 4:30 to play in the third period, a 6-0 stretch for the hosts threatened to take the game out of North Park's reach. But the Vikings drained back-to-back triples at the end of the quarter to trim the deficit back down to ten points, and mounted another 6-0 surge early in the fourth frame to put Wheaton on notice. With her team holding a slender 62-58 advantage and just over five minutes to play in her Thunder career, Annie Tate went to work, knocking down a three-pointer and converting an old fashioned three-point play to stretch Wheaton's lead back up to 70-58 with 3:30 remaining. The All-American earned two more successful trips to the foul line and put up one more layup in the lane to reach 39 points for the second time in a month before joining her fellow seniors for a well-deserved curtain call in front of the home faithful. North Park, playing for nothing but pride on Saturday, gave Wheaton a test this evening but could not make enough defensive stops or shots down the stretch, and the Thunder registered 11 of the last 12 points to earn their biggest margin of victory in the last three months.

Wheaton shot an even 50% from the field in Saturday's win, including a blistering 69% figure in the first quarter, while holding the Vikings to a 34.4% mark. North Park knocked down ten three-pointers in the game, but the Thunder had a slightly better percentage from beyond the arc and dropped in 25 of their 30 free throw attempts, including Tate's perfect 9-9 performance at the line. The hosts also enjoyed a significant 41-29 edge in rebounds and forced ten turnovers. In addition to free throws, points in the paint proved to be a key area of Wheaton's strength tonight, as the Thunder tallied 32 points in the lane compared to 16 for North Park.

Tate wrote the headlines in her final collegiate outing, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds and leading all players with four three-point baskets as a part of her impressive scoring tally. The senior shot 65% from the floor and registered 30 of her points from open play as opposed to the record-breaking 28 points she secured from the foul line in the January win over Elmhurst. Oliver posted 15 points and seven boards in her last game as an underclassman, while seniors Lily Schwen and Ana Mooney each contributed seven points, and the former dished out a game-high six assists. Annika Richardson went for six points and the same number of rebounds, and Alyssa Faberowski had a versatile showing, posting three points, five boards, three assists, and Wheaton's only two steals of the game. Seniors Rachel Brady and Keara Caragher both got the start tonight as a nod to their contributions to the program, and Brady tallied the game's only blocked shot.

Wheaton will now head into the offseason having sent its departing graduates off on a high note and will begin the long road of preparation for the 2024-25 campaign.

Noteworthy: Tate's 39-point haul on Saturday is tied with Jane Nelson (Jan. 25, 1983 vs. North Central) and Tate's own effort against Elmhurst (Jan. 13, 2024) for the third-highest single game total in program history and is the joint-highest scoring tally in a single game for any Thunder women's basketball player in the 21st century.