Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton Thunder women's basketball team returned to action on Thursday night with a road contest at Carthage College. The Thunder picked up a 77-66 win against the hosts. Wheaton improves to 6-1 overall (6-1 CCIW) and Carthage is 0-5 (0-5 CCIW) on the season. The two teams will close out their season series on Saturday afternoon with a 2:00 p.m. tipoff in Wheaton's King Arena.
Thunder sophomore Annie Tate scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Thunder tonight. She also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and blocked one shot. Tate shot 11-of-18 from the field, including 4-for-7 from three-point range.
Hannah Swider scored 18 points for the guests tonight, shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Swider grabbed four rebounds, with four assists and three steals. Senior Hannah Williams scored 12 points with a game-high eight assists and she collected four rebounds. Ellie Cassel scored seven points with five rebounds and three assists off the Thunder bench.
Wheaton shot 52.8% (28-of-53) from the field, including 47.4% (9-of-19) from three-point range. Carthage posted a 44.1% (25-of-59) field goal percentage, including 30% (6-of-20) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder shot 75% (12-of-16) at the free throw line and Carthage had a 66.7% (8-of-12) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the hosts 33-29, with an 11-9 edge on the offensive glass for Carthage. Wheaton shined in transition tonight as the Thunder out-scored Carthage 13-0 in fast break points.
Carthage scored the first nine points in tonight's game, with a trio of three-pointers in the opening 1:40 of the contest. Carthage led the Thunder 23-19 with 1:21 remaining in the first quarter in Ellie Cassel's basket sparked a 5-0 Wheaton run to close out the quarter as the guests led 24-23 at the end of the opening period.
The second quarter was tightly contested as the largest advantage for either team in the period was a three-point edge. Wheaton led Carthage 42-41 at the halftime intermission. Tate scored 16 points in the first half for the Thunder and Swider tallied 14 points as the duo combined to score 30 of Wheaton's 42 first-half points.
Wheaton opened the third quarter strong with a field goal and three-pointer by Tate paired with a basket by Swider as the guests scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 49-41 lead with 8:25 remaining in the third quarter. Wheaton led throughout the quarter as the Thunder held a 58-50 lead at the conclusion of the third period.
Carthage score the first four points of the fourth quarter to trim Wheaton's lead to two points at 58-56 with 7:50 left in the game. A layup by Tate on the next basket increased Wheaton's lead to 60-56 with 7:32 and was the start of a 14-4 Thunder run that increased Wheaton's lead to 72-60 with 3:10 remaining in the game. The key fourth-quarter run helped Wheaton maintain the lead as the Thunder closed out the game for the 77-66 victory.
Amanda Larson led Carthage with a team-high 19 points. She added five rebounds with three assists. Bridget Barrett tallied 13 points with seven rebounds. Kelsey Coshun had 12 points off the Carthage bench tonight.