WHEATON, Ill. – In its regular-season finale, the Wheaton College women's basketball team burst past Millikin University with a decisive fourth-quarter run that sealed a 64-48 victory on Saturday.

The Thunder improved to 11-14 overall and 7-9 in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW). The win helped them secure the No. 6-seed in next week's CCIW Championship tournament. Wheaton will next face off with No. 3-seed North Central College in the quarterfinal round of the competition on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Naperville, and the winner of this contest will advance to next Friday's semifinal stage in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Saturday was also Senior Night inside King Arena for Wheaton's three seniors – Alyssa Faberowski, Kate Oliver and Grace Kizer. The trio were able to depart their home floor for the final time with a victory in hand.

The game was up for grabs throughout the opening three quarters. Millikin started strong and led 10-5 in the early going, leaning primarily on Nikkel Johnson. The sophomore forward proved hard to stop all evening, as she posted a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Wheaton responded with an 8-1 run over the rest of the quarter to draw ahead 13-11. Freshman Lydia Brogan canned a three-pointer and cruised in for a fast-break layup to spark her squad during that time frame.

The visitors briefly regained the lead at 15-13, but an and-one layup by junior Lily Caddow put Wheaton back ahead. The score stood tied at 21-21 with a minute to go in the half when Brogan delivered a jumper in the paint, followed by Caddow's trey in the final seconds to give the home side a 26-21 lead at the break.

Johnson went back to work for the Big Blue in the third quarter with eight points in the post. Her jumper at 30-28 briefly recaptured the advantage for Millikin. However, Oliver immediately stepped up and delivered five fast points in a 30-second span to give the lead back to Wheaton. The senior scored seven points and snagged four rebounds in the period.

Early in the fourth quarter, Millikin was still hanging around and only trailed by two points. That's when the Thunder hit the gas and didn't let up until the game was out of reach. A monstrous 18-2 surge over a five-minute span allowed Wheaton to race away to a 59-41 lead. Turnovers proved critical as the Big Blue coughed up the ball four times in five possessions to keep the momentum rolling in the Thunder's direction. On the other end of the floor, Wheaton scored seven times in nine possessions, with three-pointers provided by Caddow, Oliver, and sophomore Lauryn Ham twice.

With the contest in hand, Wheaton cruised through the final minutes and extended its season with the win. Oliver was a force throughout the evening as the senior led the squad in scoring (21), rebounding (9), assists (4) and blocks (2). Brogan came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points as she shot 80 percent from both the field and the charity stripe. Caddow reached double figures in points with 10 while grabbing four rebounds. Ham and junior Jenna Hunter added six points each.

In the final box score, the Thunder shot 39 percent from the field, 33 percent from three-point range (7-21) and 68 percent from the free throw line (13-19). The Big Blue converted 41 percent of their field goals, 15 percent of their three-pointers (2-13) and 47 percent of their free throws (8-17).

Millikin won the rebounding battle 34-31. But the visitors committed twice as many turnovers (20-10), which led to 21 Wheaton points. The Thunder also prevailed in bench points by a 27-10 margin.