Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team traveled to CCIW rival North Central on Wednesday evening for matchup against the Cardinals in Gregory Arena. The Thunder closed out each half with impressive  quarters of play in earning a 66-52 victory against North Central (6-9, 2-4 CCIW). Wheaton has won 32 of its last 33 meetings against the Cardinals. The Thunder improve to 8-7 on the season and are now 3-3 in CCIW as they prepare to Carthage on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. in King Arena.

Kate Oliver led Wheaton tonight with 24 points as she made a trio of three-pointers in her 8-for-17 shooting from the field. Oliver also collected eight rebound and distributed four assists. Senior Annika Richardson shot 9-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range as she scored 23 points. Richardson recorded a "double-double" as she also collected a game-high 11 rebounds.

Grace Kizer scored six points with two steals. Alyssa Faberowski grabbed seven rebounds for the guests and scored six points, snagging four steals. Lily Caddow tallied six rebounds for the Thunder tonight.

Wheaton posted a 41.3% (26-of-63) field goal percentage, including 38.1% (8-for-21) from three-point range. The Cardinals shot 32.1% (18-of-56) from the field tonight, including 14.3% (3-of-21) from three-point range. The Thunder shot 66.7% (6-of-9) at the free throw line, while the Cardinals had a 72.2% (13-of-18) effort at the charity stripe. The Thunder won the rebounding battle tonight with a 42-38 advantage as each team collected seven offensive boards.

Richardson and Oliver made the first two field goals of the game tonight as the Thunder jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minute. The Cardinals rallied late in the first quarter and the hosts led Wheaton 16-15 at the end of the first period.

Wheaton opened the second quarter be scoring the first 10 points of the period to take a substantial 25-16 lead with 4:56 remaining in the first half. Wheaton continued its strong play to close out the first half as the Thunder led NCC 32-23 at the halftime intermission.

Richardson scored 17 of her 23 points in the first half tonight, also collecting six rebounds with two blocked shots. Oliver scored eight points in the first half for the guests. Josylin Simmons Doxie scored six points to lead North Central's first-half effort.

The Cardinals out-scored Wheaton 17-13 in the third quarter as the hosts trimmed the Thunder lead to 45-40 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

Wheaton closed out the game with a strong fourth quarter, out-scoring the hosts 21-12. Wheaton's largest lead of the game was 14 points, including in the 66-52 final score. Oliver scored seven points and Richardson added six points in Wheaton's outstanding fourth quarter to close out the victory.

Wheaton returns home on Saturday night for a CCIW matchup against Carthage College. Saturday's contest against the Firebirds tips off at 5:00 p.m. in King Arena.