Wheaton, Ill. -- The Wheaton women's basketball team returned to friendly confines on Saturday evening to continue its three-game stretch against fellow CCIW squads ranked in the top 20 of the latest D3hoops.com national poll. The 15th-ranked Millikin Big Blue came to town tonight looking to avenge last year's surprise defeat in Wheaton. The Thunder once again gave Millikin all it could handle, but this time the upset bid fell just short, as the visitors hung on for a 61-56 win. Wheaton's record is now 11-10 and 4-8 in conference games with four regular season contests remaining on the schedule.
Conference leading scorer Elyce Knudsen dropped in a three to open the scoring tonight, but the hosts prevented Millikin from making a fast start on the road, grabbing the next six points to establish an early edge. The first quarter was a see-saw affair that involved both teams mounting a run but being unable to sustain their momentum. An and-one jump shot by
Annie Tate put Wheaton up 11-7, but the Big Blue surged to an 8-0 stretch to turn the tables.
Lily Schwen ended the first quarter with a jumper in the paint to trim the deficit down to two points at 15-13.
The Thunder opened the second period with consecutive three-pointers from
Annika Richardson and Tate to get the King Arena crowd on its feet. Two more triples in the next two minutes gave the home side its largest lead of the contest at 25-17. But Millikin controlled the closing stretch of the first half and rattled off a 12-4 run to tie the score at 29 apiece heading into halftime.
Jenna Hunter converted the first basket of the second half to nudge Wheaton back in front, but the guests tied the game at 33-33 two minutes into the quarter and never trailed again after that point. Hunter registered three-straight layups in the lane to power Wheaton's offense and match Millikin on 39 points, but two deep shots from Knudsen sparked a 10-0 stretch to close out the third frame, and the Big Blue carved out a comfortable 51-41 advantage heading into the fourth.
But any assumption that the favored team would secure a straightforward victory was quickly proven wrong, as the Thunder displayed grit and power to chip away at Millikin's lead and stay in the game. Trailing by nine points with five minutes to go, Wheaton ramped up the defensive intensity to make Millikin uncomfortable and subsequently got baskets from three different players to cut the deficit to 56-53 with three minutes remaining. Remarkably, the Big Blue did not make a single field goal attempt in the fourth quarter due to Wheaton's assertive defending, with all ten points Millikin gained coming from the foul line. But the Thunder could not cash in on the offensive end and saw three opportunities to tie the game in the last minute go to waste before Millikin finally made their free throws.
Kate Oliver drained a three with seconds remaining to give the underdogs a glimmer of hope, but the comeback attempt came up short as the Big Blue iced the game away at the line.
Wheaton held Millikin to a meager 32.8% field goal percentage tonight, an uncommonly low figure for one of the best offensive teams in Division III. 17 of the Big Blue's points came from the charity stripe, and the visitors did not make any of their three-point attempts in either the second or the fourth quarter. The Thunder enjoyed a slightly more accurate showing from beyond the arc on Saturday thanks to a 57% figure in the second quarter and made nine of their 12 foul shots. Millikin out-rebounded its host, but Wheaton committed fewer turnovers and successfully unsettled its ranked visitor on the offensive end throughout the game. The home side also earned advantages in the points off of turnovers and points in the paint categories, while both teams tallied 13 second chance points. The score was tied seven times and the lead changed hands six times in this evening's competitive conference clash.
Annie Tate led the team in scoring once again with 17 points to her credit and was the only Thunder player to knock down multiple threes, and the veteran guard also grabbed six rebounds.
Kate Oliver scored 13 points and led all players in steals and assists with five and four, respectively, while also contributing five boards.
Jenna Hunter registered 14 points, dished out a pair of assists, and led Wheaton with eight rebounds.
Alyssa Faberowski and
Annika Richardson each chipped in with five points and six boards this evening, and the former earned three takeaways.
The Thunder head into the home stretch of their regular season schedule next week, and Wheaton will be on the road for both upcoming games. Next up is a trip to Waukesha to take on the #20 Carroll Pioneers on Wednesday night, before Wheaton goes to Elmhurst a week from today for a matchup with significant CCIW Tournament implications.
