Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton women's basketball team defeated Millikin (12-7, 5-5 CCIW) on Wednesday night inside King Arena. Tonight's victory was the fourth win in a row for the Thunder as Wheaton improves to 14-5 overall and 7-3 in CCIW.
Four Thunder players scored in double digits tonight to lead the way for the hosts. Hannah Frazier scored a team-high 21 points with seven rebounds and five blocked shots. Hannah Swider scored 13 points, as she and Frazier each made three three-pointers. Jill Berg scored 12 points off the Wheaton bench with nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
Kristi Demski scored 10 points for the Thunder with three assists and two steals. Jordan Myroth scored eight points with six rebounds and four assists. Hannah Williams distributed a game-high six assists in the Wheaton victory.
Wheaton shot 40% (26-of-65) from the field, including 38.1% (8-of-21) from three-point range. The Big Blue posted a 37.3% (19-of-51) field goal percentage, including 33.3% (3-of-9) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder shot 87.5% (14-of-16) at the free throw line and Millikin had a 64.5% (20-of-31) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the guests 42-35. The Thunder owned a 16-11 edge on the offensive glass, helping the hosts out-score Millikin 26-8 in second-chance points. The Wheaton bench was strong tonight, scoring 30 of the team's 74 points.
Millikin jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Wheaton responded with an 8-1 run to tie the game at 10-10 with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter. Millikin led the Thunder 15-12 at the conclusion of the first quarter.
Wheaton senior Kirsten Madsen made a three-pointer with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter to give Wheaton a 24-22 lead. Millikin followed the trifecta with a 9-2 scoring run to close out the first half as the Big Blue led 31-26 at the halftime intermission.
Millikin's Abby Ratsch made one of two free throws to increase the guests' lead to 32-26 with 9:00 left in the third quarter. Demski made a three-pointer with 7:40 left in the quarter to spark 14-unanswered points for the Thunder. Myroth and Berg combined to score nine of Wheaton's 14 points in the run as the Thunder led 40-32 with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter. Wheaton closed out the quarter strong as Wheaton led the Big Blue 52-41 at the conclusion of the third quarter. The Thunder out-scored Millikin 26-10 in the third quarter.
Wheaton maintained its lead throughout the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 17 points in the final quarter. Wheaton was strong in the second half as Frazier scored 16 of her 21 points in the final 20 minutes and Swider tallied 11 of her 13 points in the second half.
Ratsch led Millikin with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Aubrey Staton scored 11 points for the guests and Jordan Hildebrand tallied nine points.
Wheaton travels to Elmhurst on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff against the Bluejays.