Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton College women's basketball team used consistent play to earn a 57-52 victory at home against North Park University (12-3, 3-1) on Wednesday night to hand the Vikings their first CCIW loss of the season. Wheaton is now 11-3 on the season with a 3-1 record in CCIW play as the Thunder, Vikings and Illinois Wesleyan are all tied for first place in the conference with identical 3-1 records.

Wheaton led the Vikings 7-4 with 4:25 left in the first quarter when North Park put together an 11-2 scoring surge to close out the quarter as the Vikings led 15-9 at the conclusion of the opening quarter.

North Park maintained its lead with a 20-15 advantage when Wheaton's Katie McDaniels made a layup with 6:05 remaining in the first half to spark a 13-5 Thunder run to close out the half. McDaniels scored nine of Wheaton's 13 points in the surge to conclude the half. The Wheaton run helped the hosts to a 28-25 halftime lead over the Vikings.

Wheaton maintained its lead throughout the third quarter as the Thunder led 37-31 at the end of the quarter.

Wheaton held a five-point advantage at 44-39 with 3:45 left in the regulation when McDaniels made a layup; was fouled, and made the ensuing free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play to increase Wheaton's lead to 47-39.

North Park's Soly Roman made two free throws with 3:19 left in the game to trim Wheaton's lead to 47-41, but Thunder junior Chantal Meacham drained a three-pointer to increase the hosts' lead to 50-41 with 3:00 left in regulation. The Vikings would not go away as Liz Rehberger made a three-pointer for the Vikings to cut the Thunder advantage to 51-48 with 1:14 left in the matchup. Wheaton sophomore Kelly Lawson made a critical three-point basket with 43-seconds left in regulation to extend the Thunder edge to 54-48. Lawson stole the ball from the Vikings' on North Park's next trip down the court and Devin Kyler made one of two free throw attempts to give the Thunder a 55-48 advantage with 23-seconds remaining in the game as the Thunder went on to secure the 57-52 victory.

McDaniels led the Thunder with 17 points and six assists. Meacham added 12 points, making three shots from behind the three-point arc. Meacham also contributed two assists and two steals. Lawson and Considine each scored eight points for the hosts. Considine led the Thunder with nine rebounds, while Kyler and Lawson each collected eight boards.

Rehberger led North Park with 16 points, making four three-pointers. Nicole Kruckman scored 10 points with seven boards. Roman led all players with 12 rebounds and she blocked four shots.

Wheaton shot 36.4% (20-of-55) from the field, including 43.8% (7-for-16) from three-point range. The Vikings posted a 26.2% (16-of-61) field goal percentage, with 45.5% (5-for-11) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 66.7% (10-of-15) from the free throw line and North Park had a 93.8% (15-of-16) effort at the charity stripe. Each team collected 41 rebounds in the game with North Park holding a 16-12 edge on the offensive glass.

Wheaton will return to action on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Thunder travel to Elmhurst College for a matchup with the Bluejays.