Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team used outstanding defense, timely offense and a school-record rebounding performance to defeat third-ranked UW-Whitewater 66-62 on Saturday night in Wheaton's King Arena. The Warhawks (5-1) are ranked third in the current D3hoops.com Top-25 poll and Wheaton (5-1) is ranked 24th in the same poll. Wheaton will host University of Chicago on Wednesday night at 5:30 PM.
The Wheaton defense held the high-scoring Warhawks' offense to its lowest output of the year, as UW-Whitewater entered the game averaging 91.3 points per game. Thunder senior Maris Hovee grabbed a school-record 22 rebounds on the night, including eight on the offensive glass. Hovee broke the previous single-game record of 20 rebounds, which had been set four times, most recently by Jenna Will on December 1, 1998.
Wheaton head coach Kent Madsen noted, "It was a great team performance. I am so proud of our young ladies for how well they defended. We hit some big shots down the stretch, whether it was free throws or other shots. They just kept battling throughout the game."
The guests led by as many as eight points in the first half with a 21-13 lead with 8:40 left before halftime. Wheaton scored seven unanswered points to trim the Warhawks lead to 21-20 with 4:45 remaining. Ellie Zeller drained a three in the closing seconds of the first half to give Wheaton the 31-28 lead at the intermission. Zeller scored 18 points in the first half.
UW-Whitewater cut into the Thunder lead early in the second half to own a 45-38 lead for the guests with 14 minutes left in regulation. A 7-1 scoring surge for the Thunder trimmed the Warhawks' lead to 46-45 with 9:25 left in the game. A layup by Hovee with 4:31 remaining in the game tied the contests at 53-53 and a blocked shot by Lauren Graham on the guests' next possession gave Wheaton the ball and a basket by Moriah Reeves helped Wheaton regain the lead. A lead the hosts would not give up for the remainder of the game. Chantal Meacham hit a key three-pointer with 2:59 left in the game to increase Wheaton's lead to 60-53. Wheaton was 6-for-8 at the free throw line in the final minute to secure the win.
Zeller led all players with 22 points in the game, as she shot 9-for-13 from the field. Zeller added four assists. Meacham scored 13 points and Lauren Graham added nine points. Graham also contributed six rebounds, with three blocked shots. Wheaton shot 36.4% (24-66) from the field, with 23.1% (3-13) from behind the three-point arc and 62.5% (15-24). Wheaton out-rebounded the Warhawks 50-45, with a 14-12 edge on the offensive glass.
Mary Merg led UW-Whitewater with 21 points and Katie Burton scored 18 points. Amy Mandrell contributed a team-high 16 rebounds. The Warhawks shot 31.9% (22-69) from the field, with 41.9% (13-31) from three-point range and 62.5% (5-8) at the charity stripe.