Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team traveled to Chicago's north side on Wednesday night for CCIW matchup at North Park University. The Thunder grinded out a 56-50 victory against the Vikings. The Thunder improve to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in CCIW play with tonight's victory.

Alyssa Faberowski led the Thunder with 18 points, three assists and two steals Her 18-point output tonight is a career high for Faberowski, as is the 39 minutes that she played in the contest.

Kate Oliver scored 13 points for the Thunder, coming off the bench in tonight's contest. Freshman Grace Kizer played a career-high 38 minutes as she scored 11 points, with four rebounds. Annika Richardson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go with five points as she distributed three assists.

Wheaton took advantage of opportunities tonight in earning the win. North Park turned the ball over 22 times as the Thunder out-scored the Vikings 16-6 in points off of turnovers. The guests also had an 11-6 advantage on the offensive glass as Wheaton out-scored the hosts 9-0 in second-chance points.

The Thunder posted a 26.4% (14-of-53) field goal percentage, including 25% (4-of-16) from three-point range. The Vikings shot 36.4% (16-of-44) from the field, including 23.1% (3-for-13) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton's effort at the free throw line was a key factor in the Thunder victory as the guests shot 80% (24-30) at the charity stripe and North Park had a 71.4% (15-of-21) effort at the line. The Vikings out-rebounded Wheaton 37-36 despite Wheaton's advantage on the offensive glass.

Caroline Long led North Park with 15 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Kathryn Keehn scored eight points with six rebounds.

Wheaton scored the game's first eight points in the opening two minutes. Long made a pair of free throws to give NPU its first points nearly four-and-a-half minutes into the game. Long's free throws cut Wheaton's lead to 8-2 with 5:36 left in the first quarter. Long's free throws started a 10-1 North Park run to close out the quarter as the hosts led 10-9 after one quarter of play.

The two teams played a tightly contested second quarter as Wheaton led 26-25 at the halftime intermission. Faberowski scored six of her nine first-half points in the second quarter of the contest. Kizer also had nine points in the first half, and Richardson grabbed four first-half rebounds. Long and Evelyn Abundes led North Park in first-half scoring with six points apiece. Keehn and Long each grabbed a team-high five rebounds in the first half.

North Park scored the first six points of the third quarter to take a 31-26 lead with 7:35 left in the third quarter.  Wheaton then responded with a 10-2 run as the guests regained the lead with a 36-33 edge with 2:50 left in the third quarter. Oliver scored six of Wheaton's 10 points in the run and Richardson scored four points for the guests. The Thunder led 38-35 at the conclusion of the third quarter.

The Thunder scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter as Wheaton opened up a 46-35 lead with 5:50 remaining in the game. The Vikings responded with a 9-2 run to trim Wheaton's lead to four points at 48-44 with 3:15 left in the contest. Oliver made a pair of free throws with 1:48 left in the game to increase Wheaton's lead to 50-44. Each team made one free throw in the final 1:20 of the game as the Thunder led 51-45 with 25-seconds remaining in the game. In the final 20 seconds, Keehn made a free throw and a costly Wheaton turnover led to a layup by Long that cut the Thunder lead to 51-48. The Vikings fouled Faberowski three times in the final 15 seconds as she made five of her six free throw attempts as she helped the Thunder secure the road win.

Wheaton is off until next Wednesday night as the Thunder host Elmhurst in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff inside King Arena. Wednesday's game against the Bluejays is Wheaton's first weeknight game at home since November.