Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team, ranked 21^st in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, faced No. 17 Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday night in a thrilling CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament Championship Game matchup in Wheaton's King Arena. The Titans out-scored the Thunder 18-14 in the fourth quarter to secure a 69-68 victory.

Illinois Wesleyan's victory gives the Titans the CCIW's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division III  Women's Basketball Tournament. Wheaton is a strong candidate for an at-large bid to the tournament. Both teams await to see the tournament selections and pairings when the NCAA announces the brackets for the tournament on Monday at 1:30 p.m. at NCAA.com.

Hannah Frazier led the Thunder tonight with 25 points, seven rebounds, five blocked shots, seven rebounds and two steals. Hannah Williams and Kristi Demski each scored 12 points as Demski made three three-pointers. Hannah Swider scored eight points off the Wheaton bench, shooting 3-of-3 from the field. Jordan Myroth led all players with eight assists tonight and she grabbed five rebounds. Senior Devin Kyler (PICTURED LEFT) led all player with 10 rebounds and she distributed five assists with three blocked shots and three steals.

The tightly contest matchup was tied eight times tonight with six lead changes. Neither team led by more than six points at any time tonight.

The Titans led by six points at 9-3 with 6:55 left in the first quarter when Demski buried a three-pointer that ignited a 13-2 Thunder run. The Thunder scoring surge included two treys by Demski and a three-pointer by Williams as Wheaton led 16-11 with 4:00 left in the opening quarter.The Titans battled back in the quarter and a layup by IWU's Ashley Schneider accounted for a 20-20 tie at the end of the first quarter.

The Titans led 30-27 midway through the second quarter when Swider made a pair of three-pointers off the bench to give Wheaton a 33-30 lead with 2:25 left in the first half. IWU's Nina Anderson made a trey to tie the game at 33-33 with 2:02 left before halftime. Swider made a layup and Williams followed with a pair of three-pointers to give Wheaton a 37-33 lead with 36-seconds left in the second quarter. Wheaton held a 37-34 lead at the halftime intermission.

Wheaton led by as many as six points in the third quarter and led throughout the quarter. However, each team scored 17 points in the quarter as Wheaton held a three-point lead at 54-51 at the conclusion of the third period.

A layup by Frazier with 6:24 remaining in the fourth quarter gave Wheaton a 60-54 lead as the hosts' six-point advantage matched Wheaton's largest lead of the game. The Titan's Kendall Sosa made a pair of free throws on the next possession and Schneider followed with a basket as the guests trimmed Wheaton's lead to 60-58 with 5:35 remaining in the game. On the Titans' next two possessions the guests made one of two free throw attempts and Brooke Lansford made a trey to give IWU a 62-60 lead with 4:42 remaining in the game.

A layup by Frazier with 3:50 remaining in the game tied the matchup at 62-62. The Titans followed with baskets by Maddie Merritt and Raven Hughes to give the guests a 66-62 lead with 3:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. A steal by Frazier setup a bucket for Demski to cut the Titans' lead to 66-64 with 56-seconds remaining in regulation. The game was delayed briefly due to a malfunction of the game clock and shot clock following Demski's basket.

Once play resumed, Sosa was fouled and made one of two free throw attempts to give the Titans a 67-64 lead with 51-seconds left in the game. A missed three-point attempt by Wheaton with 24-seconds left in the game was rebounded by IWU. Schneider was fouled following the miss and she made one of two attempts at the charity stripe to extend the guests' advantage to 68-64 with 21-seconds remaining in the game. Frazier made a layup on Wheaton's next trip down the court to trim the Titans' lead to 68-66 with 13-seconds left in the matchup. Lansford was fouled on the guests' next posession and she missed the first free throw attempt and made the second to give IWU a 69-66 edge with 12-seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Wheaton made its way down the court and Demski had a three-point attempt that bounced off the rim and was collected by Frazier who put the ball in the basket as time expired to account for the 69-68 final score. 

Wheaton posted a 51.1% (24-of-47) field goal percentage in the game, including 50% (8-of-16) from three-point range. The Titans shot 42.9% (24-of-56) from the field, including 40% (4-of-10) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 85.7% (12-of-14) at the free throw line and the Titans had a 58.6% (17-of-29) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded IWU 31-29, with an 11-6 edge on the offensive glass for the Titans. Illinois Wesleyan's frenetic press forced Wheaton into 20 turnovers as the Titans out-scored the Thunder 24-9 off turnovers tonight.

Ashley Schneider scored 16 points with four rebounds and three steals for the Titans. Maddie Merritt tallied 15 points with seven rebounds and three steals. Kendall Sosa scored 12 points with three assists off the IWU bench. Nina Anderson registered nine points with two assists and three steals for the guests.

Note Worthy: Frazier has 534 points this season, the third-highest single-season point total in program history...Frazier now has 958 career points to move into 22nd place on Wheaton's career scoring list...Myroth's eight assists tonight gives her 144 this season, the third-highest single-season assist total in program history.