Waukesha, Wis. – The Wheaton women's basketball team faced the Carroll University Pioneers on Saturday in its second road game of the week. Wheaton dropped today's contest, 81-56, moving the Thunder to 7-12 on the season and 3-7 in conference play. Carroll, ranked 16^th in the country in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, improved to 16-4 and 10-1 in CCIW action after picking up an eighth-consecutive victory.

The opening quarter remained competitive early, as Jenna Hunter scored eight of Wheaton's first 11 points in the opening six minutes. But Carroll used a barrage of three-pointers to create separation, building a seven-point lead heading into the last two minutes of the first frame. Grace Kizer connected on a jumper to close out the opening quarter, but the home side still held a 25-16 advantage. The Pioneers shot 5-of-7 from beyond the arc and 9-of-16 from the field in the first period.

Wheaton responded in the second, opening the period by hitting two three-point attempts and mounting an 8-0 run to draw back within two at 29-27. Carroll answered this surge with a 12-0 run, however, to push its lead back up to 14 points with two minutes left in the half.

Carroll closed the half on a 16-2 stretch, taking a 45-29 lead into the break. Wheaton was outrebounded 16-10 and trailed 13-10 in assists, and the Pioneers shot 60 percent (18-30) from the field. Hunter led the Thunder offensively, while Chloe Kostka knocked down two of her three attempts from beyond the arc.

Wheaton was unable to regain momentum after the intermission, as the conference leaders held a 20+-point advantage for nearly the entire second half and put in an efficient display to extend their impressive winning run.

The Thunder shot 35.4 percent from the field (23-65) and 24.1 percent from three-point range (7-29) on Saturday. Carroll finished on 50 percent shooting, led by 22 points apiece from Natalie Gricius and Julia Lokker, and went 11-of-16 from the free throw line, compared to just seven foul shot attempts for the visitors. The Pioneers also held a 39-32 rebounding advantage, while both sides grabbed six steals and registered 24 points in the paint. Wheaton out-rebounded Carroll by a 14-12 margin on the offensive glass and picked up 20 points off of turnovers while limiting the Wisconsin squad to 13.

The junior Hunter led all Thunder scorers with 16 points on 50 percent shooting this afternoon and brought down a game-leading four offensive rebounds. Hunter and Petra Trumbach each collected a team-high six rebounds. Kate Oliver led Wheaton with four assists, while Trumbach earned three and gathered in a joint game-best two steals. Kostka and Lydia Brogan matched Hunter on 50 percent shooting tallies, with the former contributing nine points and the latter scoring seven.

After consecutive road tests, Wheaton returns to King Arena on Wednesday night to begin a three-game homestand, starting with a 7:00 p.m. matchup against another Wisconsin program, Carthage College.