Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team celebrated its return to the Top 25 on Wednesday night with an 84-35 win at Illinois Institute of Technology. The win was Wheaton's fifth straight victory and moved the Thunder to 14-3 overall on the season. The Scarlet Hawks fall to 0-14 on the season. Wheaton will return to CCIW action on Saturday night with a trip to North Central for a 5 pm tip-off.

Wheaton shot 46% (29-63) from the field despite struggling to just 15.4% (2-13) on three-point attempts. The Thunder shot 80% (24-30) at the free throw line and out-rebounded the Scarlet Hawks 58-33. IIT shot 21.3% (13-61) from the field and 14.3% (2-14) from the three-point line with a 41.2% (7-17) success rate at the free throw line.

Wheaton took control of the game from the opening tip, holding the Scarlet Hawks scoreless for the first eight minutes and eight seconds of the game before IIT finally stopped the 18-0 run to start the game. IIT's first basket of the game was the first allowed by the Thunder in 17:42 of game action after the Thunder closed Saturday's win over Carthage by holding the Lady Reds without a field goal for the final 9:34 of the game.

Wheaton would lead 21-5 after the first quarter and stretched its lead to as many as 26 points in the first half en route to a 39-16 halftime lead. Wheaton would outscore IIT in all four quarters and used a 25-9 edge in the fourth quarter to secure the 84-35 victory.

Kelly Thornton led the Thunder with 14 points. Jordan Myroth stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Ellie Zeller also finished with 12 ponits. Maggie Dansdill finished with 11 points. Jill Berg scored eight points and tied Devin Kyler for a game-high 10 rebounds.