Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton College women's basketball team (24-4) lost an overtime matchup with Wisconsin Lutheran College (25-4) on Friday night, 70-67 in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The Warriors advance to the tournament's second round on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. when WLC will face Hope College.
Wheaton took an early 10-3 lead tonight, but the Warriors countered with an 8-3 run to trim the hosts' lead to 13-11 with 11:40 remaining in the first half. WLC led the Thunder 31-30 with 1:31 remaining in the first half; however, baskets by Wheaton's Kelly Lawson and Lauren Graham in the final 1:05 helped the Thunder hold a 35-30 lead at halftime.
The Thunder held an early 36-32 lead with 18:27 left in regulation, but the Warriors quickly responded with nine unanswered points as the guests took a 41-36 lead with 15:28 left in regulation. The two teams battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the second half with six ties and five lead changes.
Thunder junior Hannah Considine scored a basket with 6:23 left in the second half to cut the WLC lead to 58-56. Considine's basket was the first of four consecutive field goals for the junior as she scored all of Wheaton's eight points in the final 6:30. Considine gave Wheaton a 64-62 lead with 1:56 remaining in regulation, however, the Warriors' Maggie Gartner countered with a basket to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:06 left in regulation. Each team missed on scoring opportunities in the final minute as the game went to overtime tied at 64 each.
Gartner gave WLC a 66-64 lead with a field goal 1:50 into the overtime period. A free throw by Wheaton's Katie McDaniels and a layup for Considine gave the Thunder a 67-66 lead with 1:55 remaining in OT. Considine's layup was Wheaton's final points of the night as a basket for the Warriors' Kristen Schulz and two free throws by Gartner secured the 70-67 win for WLC.
Considine led the Thunder with 16 points and seven rebounds, including five offensive boards. The junior scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half and in OT. McDaniels scored 12 points with six assists. Sophomore Chantal Meacham scored 12 points with six rebounds and four assists. Meacham made four three-pointers on the night. Ellie Zeller scored nine points with seven rebounds and three steals.
Wheaton head coach Kent Madsen mentioned following the game, "I told my team after this game that we may be disappointed with the loss, but we cannot be disappointed with the great season that we had. It has been more than seven years since we have won a conference championship and a conference tournament. We had a lot of big wins along the way and had a great season; unfortunately we just didn't play our best game tonight."
Kristen Schulz led the Warriors with 27 points and 20 rebounds. The WLC center also blocked four shots. Gartner scored 14 points with 12 rebounds and Christel Frey tallied 10 points with five rebounds. Caitlin Knueppel tallied nine points with five assists and Bethany Unkefer distributed eight assists.
Wisconsin Lutheran shot 43.8% (28-of-64) from the field, with 71.4% (5-of-7) from three-point range and 52.9% (9-of-17) at the free throw line. The Thunder posted a 35.6% (26-of-73) field goal percentage tonight with 38.9% (7-of-18) from three-point range and 57.1% (8-for-14) at the free throw line. WLC held a 46-45 edge in rebounding, however, Wheaton owned a 20-18 advantage on the offensive glass.