Kenosha, Wis. -- Hitting the road for the final time in the regular season, the Wheaton women's basketball team traveled to Wisconsin this afternoon to face the Carthage College Firebirds in an important CCIW matchup. Today's opponents earned a narrow victory in Wheaton one month ago, but the Thunder returned the favor on Saturday with a gritty 60-57 win to snap a three-game skid against the Firebirds.
Kate Oliver led Wheaton with 20 points and seven rebounds today, and the junior again made the difference in the final seconds with a layup that sealed the victory. The result pushes the Thunder's record back above .500 overall at 12-11 and takes them to 7-7 in CCIW play. Wheaton is now tied with Millikin for fourth place in
the conference standings, and the Thunder will host the Big Blue in a 7 PM crunch clash in King Arena on Wednesday night.
Carthage owns the CCIW's best defense by scoring average this season, but Wheaton did the stifling on the offensive end this afternoon, holding the Firebirds to a 33% field goal percentage across four quarters, including marks of 4-18 in the first quarter and 4-13 in the fourth quarter. Carthage also made just six of its 22 three-point attempts on Saturday. The Thunder posted superior shooting figures, going 43.4% from the floor for the game and converting five of their 17 triples. Wheaton only got to shoot three free throws in the second half of today's game compared to Carthage's 15, but the Firebirds finished with just four more points from the line than their guests did. The Thunder controlled the boards on Saturday, grabbing 39 rebounds to the hosts' 30, while Carthage forced 20 turnovers and both teams grabbed nine steals. Wheaton earned meaningful advantages in both points in the paint and second chance points at 30-22 and 15-5 tilts, respectively. The score was tied six times and the lead changed hands on seven occasions in today's competitive battle.
Oliver reached the 20-point mark for the second time in the last three games to lead her team in scoring this afternoon, and the Virginia native also grabbed a joint team-high seven rebounds and two steals.
Grace Kizer was Wheaton's only other double-figure scorer on Saturday with 12 points to her name, and she matched Oliver on two takeaways while going 5-6 from the floor.
Lily Caddow added nine points and six rebounds in a solid showing off of the bench, while
Annika Richardson and
Alexis Martin each scored seven today. The former dished out a team-leading four assists and brought down five rebounds, while the latter tallied three dimes and joined Oliver on a team-high seven boards.
After the hosts opened the scoring just five seconds into the game, Wheaton surged in front at 6-2 following a Richardson three-pointer. A layup from Caddow made it 9-4 in the Thunder's favor just past the halfway point of the first quarter, and the sophomore tallied the last six points of the frame for Wheaton. Thanks to a strong defensive start, the visitors held a 17-9 edge after Caddow's successful jumper. But the Firebirds made the final basket of the period on a layup in the lane to trim their deficit down to six points heading into the second quarter. The Thunder struggled offensively in the next frame, scoring just four points from open play, and neither side made a bucket until a Carthage three-ball nearly four minutes into the period. Five points on three consecutive possessions from the host's leading scorer brought Carthage back within one at 20-19, before Oliver answered with an old fashioned three-point play. The last three and a half minutes of the second frame were scoreless until the Firebirds again sank a basket in the paint on their final trip down the floor to make it 23-21 in Wheaton's favor at the intermission.
Carthage tied the score at 23 apiece on the first possession of the second half, but Kizer
(pictured right) started the third quarter on fire, knocking down two triples and scoring eight points either side
of an Oliver basket to thrust Wheaton back into a seven-point lead at 33-26. The Firebirds responded to this setback with their best sequence of the game, mounting a 12-0 run to flip the scoreline on its head. The visitors righted the ship in the last three minutes of the third period, and the two sides traded baskets before two Oliver free throws in the closing seconds of the quarter tied the game back up at 40-40 heading into the fourth.
The decisive frame was the most back-and-forth quarter of the day, as each team would pull ahead multiple times only to see their opponent find an answer on the other end and move back in front. The largest lead either squad held in the last period was three points, and this would ultimately be the margin of victory for Wheaton after Oliver's late-game heroics. The junior sank her first layup of the final stretch with 21 seconds left to put the Thunder ahead by three at 57-54. But Carthage drew a foul on its ensuing three-point attempt and coolly sank all three shots at the line to tie the contest with just nine seconds to play.
Wheaton then put the ball in Oliver's hands to see if she could replicate her feat from the win at Augustana College last month, and she delivered once again, driving to the right side of the hoop and laying the ball off the glass for the go-ahead score while also getting fouled. She stepped up and calmly converted her subsequent free throw to ensure that the Firebirds needed a three-pointer on their last possession to stay alive and send the game into overtime. The home side advanced the ball to Wheaton's half of the court and got a three-point attempt off in time. But the shot bounced off the front iron, giving the Thunder a chance to celebrate an impressive road victory that could prove to have meaningful conference tournament implications as the team heads into the last week of the regular season.
