Decatur, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team resumed CCIW play on Wednesday with a road matchup at Millikin University. The Thunder defeated the Big Blue 66-53 to earn a key CCIW road win. Wheaton (5-7, 2-2 CCIW) will remain on the road on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. with a CCIW contest at North Central College.
Millikin briefly led the contest with a 5-2 lead with 6:20 remaining in the first quarter when
Lily Caddow made a layup that sparked an 8-2 Thunder run that gave Wheaton a 10-7 lead with 4:00 left in the opening quarter. The guests led by as many as seven points in the first quarter and Wheaton held an 18-15 lead at the conclusion of the quarter.
The Thunder led 26-21 with three minutes remaining in the second quarter when Millikin responded with eight unanswered points. The Big Blue scoring run gave the hosts a 29-26 lead with 50-seconds left in the first half.
Kate Oliver made a layup with 27-seconds left before halftime to cut the Millikin lead to 29-28 and then
Petra Trumbach snatched a steal on Millikin's next possession and streaked to the basket for a layup as time expired to give the Thunder a 30-29 lead.
Caddow had a team-high nine points at halftime, with all of her scoring coming in the first quarter. The junior shot 4-for-5 from the field in the first half.
Grace Kizer contributed five points in the first half, while Trumbach and Oliver each had four points. Oliver had a team-high four rebounds and Caddow had two steals. Nikkel Johnson led Millikin with 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
A steal by Oliver started things off for Wheaton in the third quarter as her steal set up a basket for Trumbach that started an 8-0 Wheaton run that saw Oliver have three steals and one assist. The run was capped by a Caddow layup that gave the Thunder its largest lead of the game at 38-29 with 7:20 remaining in the third quarter. Right after Caddow's basket the Big Blue responded with a 10-0 run of their own that gave Millikin a 39-38 lead with 2:20 left in the third quarter. Wheaton closed out the quarter well to hold a 48-44 lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.
Wheaton shined in the fourth quarter, out-scoring the Big Blue 18-9. The guests out-scored Millikin 15-5 in the first seven minutes of the quarter to pull away for the victory. The Thunder recorded seven steals in the quarter, three by Oliver, as the guests out-scored Millikin 9-0 in points off of turnovers.
Caddow led Wheaton in scoring tonight with 14 points and she added seven rebounds.
Grace Kizer had 12 points, and
Chloe Kostka added 11 points. Oliver scored 10 points with six rebounds and a team-high four assists. She also recorded a career-high six steals in the outing as they all came in the second half. Trumbach scored eight points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field. She also contributed three steals and three assists for the victors.
Johnson led Millikin with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Hannah Ermeling scored 11 points, and Izzy Hay added 10 points.
Wheaton posted a 44.8% (26-for-58) field goal percentage in the victory, including 36.8% (7-for-19) from three-point range. The Big Blue shot 41.2% (21-for-51) from the field, including 35.3% (6-for-17) behind the three-point arc. Millikin out-rebounded the Thunder 35-32, including a 10-9 advantage on the offensive glass. The Thunder defense proved critical tonight as Wheaton had 15 steals to Millikin's four. Wheaton out-scored the hosts 25-11 in points off of turnovers tonight.
