Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team, ranked 13^th in this week's D3hoops.com Top-15 Poll, defeated North Central 69-61 on Thursday night. Wheaton dressed eight players for tonight's game with some players missing action due to COVID protocols. Wheaton has won eight-straight and is now 10-1 (10-1 CCIW) on the season. North Central is 2-9 (2-9 CCIW) this season.

Senior Hannah Williams led the Thunder with 24 points tonight. She added six rebounds, with three assists and two steals. Annie Tate tallied 19 points, with nine rebounds. Tate shot 60% (9-of-15) from the field tonight. Lily Schwen scored a career-high 12 points for the Thunder with four rebounds and she distributed six assists to tie her career-high. Ellie Cassel scored six points with eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Thunder shot 48.2% (27-of-56) from the field tonight, including 25% (3-for-12) from three-point range. The Cardinals posted a field goal percentage of 38.5% (25-of-65), including 34.8% (8-of-23) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 63.2% (12-of-19) at the free throw line and the Cardinals had a an effort of 33.3% (3-of-9) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the hosts 41-31, with a 9-7 edge on the offensive glass for the Cardinals. Wheaton took advantage of North Central's 12 turnovers tonight as the Thunder out-scored the Cardinals 11-5 off turnovers.

North Central led for the majority of the first quarter tonight as the hosts led 13-11 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

A layup by Williams with 4:08 left in the second quarter sparked a 12-2 Thunder run to close out the quarter as Wheaton overcame a 26-22 deficit to lead 32-28 at halftime. Williams and Schwen each hit three-pointers in the key run. The Thunder out-scored the Cardinals 21-15 in the second quarter.
North Central battled back in the third quarter leading by as many as five points with a 37-32 lead with 7:26 remaining in the third period. The contest was tied 48-48 at the conclusion of the quarter.

Baskets by Schwen and Ana Mooney gave Wheaton a 52-48 lead with 8:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. North Central's Haydn Braun made a three-pointer with 7:45 left in the fourth to cut Wheaton's lead to one point at 52-51. Schwen responded with a layup at the 7:08 mark and Williams drained a three-pointer with 5:34 left in the quarter to extend Wheaton's lead to 57-51. Those two baskets sparked a 10-1 Thunder run that gave Wheaton a 63-52 lead with 2:49 remaining in the fourth quarter as Wheaton held on for the 69-61 victory.

Allison Pearson led North Central with 21 points and she distributed six assists. Haydn Braun scored 12 points with four assists. IxChel Leeuwenburgh collected 11 rebounds for the hosts.

The Thunder and the Cardinals will face each other on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in King Arena.