Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team returned to action on Wednesday night with a 76-60 victory at University of Chicago (4-1). Both teams entered tonight's matchup ranked in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, with Wheaton ranked 19th in the poll and Chicago 25th.
The Thunder led by double digits for the entire second half. Wheaton's largest lead of the game was a 22-point bulge at 66-43 with 5:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Senior guard Katie McDaniels led all players with a game-high 22 points. The Thunder All-American added eight assists, five rebounds and three steals. Junior Kelly Lawson continued her strong play with 18 points, including a trio of three-pointers. She led the Thunder with nine rebounds and distributed six assists. Sophomore Kelly Thornton scored 16 points off the Wheaton bench, with a game-high four three-pointers. Maggie Dansdill tallied 10 points with five rebounds. Thunder sophomore Devin Kyler scored six points, with eight rebounds and three steals. Chantal Meacham distributed four assists for Wheaton.
Elizabeth Nye led the Maroons with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Miranda Burt scored nine points with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Olariche Obi scored eight points for the hosts, with nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Stephanie Anderson tallied seven points for UChicago.
Wheaton shot 42.6% (26-of-61) from the field, including 50% (9-of-18) from three-point range. The Maroons tallied a 35.5% (22-of-62) field goal percentage, with a 34.8% (8-of-23) effort behind the three-point arc. The Thunder shot 75% (15-of-20) at the free throw line and Chicago had a 66.7% (8-of-12) effort at the charity stripe tonight. The Maroons out-rebounded Wheaton 41-39, including a 14-11 edge on the offensive glass for the hosts.
Wheaton (4-1) will open conference play on Saturday afternoon with a 2:00 p.m. tipoff at Elmhurst.