Wheaton, Ill. - Annie Tate put her name in the all-time women's basketball record books on Saturday night and helped the Thunder women's basketball team get back in the win column with an 80-69 victory over visiting Elmhurst University. Wheaton led wire to wire in Saturday night's victory, rushing out to a 12-point halftime lead en route to improving their record to 10-6 on the season and 3-4 in conference plays while dropping the Bluejays to 7-10 overall and 1-7 in CCIW action. Wheaton will be back in action on Wednesday night when the Thunder travel to Rock Island for a mid-week battle with the Vikings of Augustana.

Wheaton shot 37.8% (17-45) from the field while holding Elmhurst to just 29.1% (23-79) shooting. Neither team shot the three-pointer particularly well with Wheaton connecting on four-of-15 (26.7%) attempts and Elmhurst making six-of-26 (23.1%) from beyond the arc. Wheaton set a new CCIW record with 42 made free throws in 49 attempts for an 85.7% clip, while Elmhurst shot 70.8% (17-24) from the charity stripe. Wheaton won the rebounding battle 49-44 despite giving up 21 offensive rebounds to the Bluejays. 

Wheaton's defense held the Bluejays to a cold shooting start as Elmhurst made just four of 19 field goal attempts in the first ten minutes of play. Leading by only two with just under three minutes left in the quarter, Rachel Brady connected on a jumper and Tate closed the quarter with a three-pointer to push the Thunder lead out to 14-7. Wheaton pushed the run to 10 unanswered on a Kate Oliver three-pointer early in the second quarter to put the Thunder up 19-7. Elmhurst pulled back to as close as six with four minutes left in the quarter, but an 8-0 Thunder run capped by Ana Mooney's three-pointer pushed the lead back out to 32-18 with two minutes left in the half. The lead would still be at 14 in the closing seconds of the half before a pair of free throws for Elmhurst cut the halftime score down to 35-23. 

Not going quietly, Elmhurst opened the third quarter on a 12-4 run over the first six minutes to pull within 39-35 on Nariyah Smith's lay-up. Wheaton responded with a 9-2 run to close the quarter capped by Lily Schwen's jumper that beat the buzzer to put the lead back into double figures at 48-37 heading into the final quarter.

Lindsay Novek opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back triples for the Bluejays to cut the Thunder lead to 48-43 with 8:26 to play. Wheaton was able to keep Elmhurst at arm's length for the next four minutes, but the guests ran off six-straight points in a 36-second span to pull within 59-55. From there, the game flow ground to a halt with 18 fouls called over the game's final four minutes with Wheaton shooting 23-of-26 from the charity stripe in that span to hold off the Bluejays and pull away for the 80-69 victory.

Annie Tate set a new career-high, finishing the game with 39 points to go with 16 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season and the 12th of her career. Alyssa Faberowski finished with 15 points and Kate Oliver added 11 points and five blocks. Rachel Brady finished with seven points and seven rebounds. 

Note Worthy: Annie Tate's 28 made free throws establishes a new single-game NCAA Division III Women's Basketball record, breaking the previous Division III record of 26 held by Julie Christensen of Wisconsin Lutheran set on November 23, 2002...Tate's 28 made free throws is also the highest single-game total in a regulation game across all three divisions of the NCAA, trailing only the 29 made free throws by Lori Charnoplosky of Glenville State (D2) in a double overtime game against Davis & Elkins on Jan. 30, 1995...Tate's 96.6% mark from the free throw line is the 15th-highest single-game mark in Division III Women's Basketball history and is the highest for anyone who did not make 100% of their free throws...Tate's 39 points scored is tied with Jane Nelson (Jan. 25, 1983 vs. North Central) for the third-highest single game total in program history and is the highest single-game total since Nicole Merchant tallied 40 points against Millsaps on January 4, 1995.