Lisle, Ill. - The Wheaton women's basketball team, ranked 11th in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25 Poll, opened its 2021-22 season with a 60-63 victory at Benedictine on Tuesday night.

Thunder junior Annie Tate, a D3hoops.com Preseason All-American, led all scorers tonight with 24 points. Tate recorded a "double-double" with 13 rebounds for the guests. A pair transfers to the program, Caroline Sikkink and Caylee Hermanson had strong debuts for the Thunder. Sikkink scored 12 points and collected six rebounds off the Thunder bench.Hermanson scored nine points with six rebounds. Ana Mooney scored seven points with six rebounds. Senior Hannah Swider scored six points and distributed a team-high three assists. 

Benedictine's Alex Fanning scored 16 points with 15 rebounds to lead the hosts. Claire Gibler scored 11 points with six rebounds for the hosts.

Wheaton shot 44.4% (24-of-54) from the field tonight, including 58.3% (7-of-12) in the key fourth quarter. The Thunder shot 25% (3-for-12) from three-point range, and 60% (9-of-15) at the free throw line. Benedictine posted a 34.4% (22-of-64) field goal percentage in the game tonight, including 3.7% (1-for-27) from three-point range. The Eagles shot 40% (8-for-20) at the charity stripe in tonight's game. Wheaton out-rebounded the Eagles 44-39, however the hosts held a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass. The offensive rebounding edge helped Benedictine to a 14-6 edge in second-chance points and the hosts out-scored Wheaton 40-30 in the paint tonight.

The first quarter was tightly contested, with the largest lead for either team in the opening period being a three-point advantage. The second three-point lead for Wheaton was at 11-8 with 3:00 left in the opening quarter. However, Benedictine responded by scoring the final six points of the quarter as the Eagles led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter. Hermanson scored seven points in the quarter and Tate tallied four as the duo scored all 11 of Wheaton's points in the first quarter.

The Eagles opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run in the first six minutes to increase their lead to 22-13 with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter. Benedictine led by seven points at 24-17 with 2:14 remaining in the first half when a layup by Mooney started a 9-2 Thunder run to close out the second quarter. Mooney also drained a three-pointer with 44-seconds remaining in the quarter as she scored five of Wheaton's points in the run and Swider scored the other four points for the Thunder. The contest was tied 26-26 at the halftime intermission. 

Wheaton opened the third quarter with a 10-4 run to take a 36-30 lead with six minutes remaining in the third. Tate scored six of Wheaton's 10 points in the scoring surge. Benedictine responded with a 10-3 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes as the Eagles regained the lead at 40-39 with 25-seconds remaining in the third quarter. Tate drove to the bucket for a layup with 12-seconds left in the quarter to give Wheaton a 41-40 advantage. The Eagles converted one of two free throw attempts in the final seconds of the quarter as the score was 41-41 at the end of three quarters. Tate matched her first-half scoring output in the third quarter with eight points on 4-for-5 shooting. She added five rebounds in the period. 

Benedictine turned the ball over on its first possession of the fourth quarter and Wheaton took advantage as Tate drove to the bucket for a made layup and she was fouled. She converted the free throw and the 'old-fashioned' three-point play put Wheaton up 44-41 with 9:05 left in the game. Following Tate's free throw, Benedictine against turned the ball over and this time it was a basket for Mooney to increase the guests' advantage to 46-41 with 8:30 left in the game. That quick scoring flurry started a string of 11 unanswered points for the Thunder as Wheaton led 52-41 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles slowly cut into Wheaton's 11-point lead and trimmed Wheaton's lead to 55-53 with 1:20 left in the game as Gibler got a put-back basket on an offensive rebound by the Eagles as the hosts' cut Wheaton's lead to just two points.

Wheaton called timeout following Gibler's basket and Sikkink calmly made a key jumper for the Thunder with about one minute left in the game to extend Wheaton's lead to 57-53. The two teams traded possessions as the Eagles had the ball with 22-seconds left in the game, as the Thunder clung to the four-point lead. The Wheaton defense forced a Bendictine turnover and following a Thunder timeout that allowed Wheaton to in-bounds the ball on its half of the court, the Eagles fouled Sikkink with 18-seconds left. She again came through in the key time with a pair of free throws to extend Wheaton's lead to 59-53. The Eagles took a timeout and attempted to in-bound the ball at their side of the court, but Wheaton fouled. The Eagles' missed both free throw attempts and Tate collected the rebound with 14-seconds left in the game. She was fouled and made one of two free throw attempts and Wheaton secured the season-opening win.

Tate scored eight points in the fourth quarter and Sikkink tallied seven as the duo played a key role in Wheaton out-scoring the Eagles 19-12 in the decisive final period. The Wheaton defense also proved effective in the fourth period, as Wheaton scored 11 of its 19 points in the quarter off of Benedictine turnovers. Wheaton held the Eagles to just 25% (3-for-12) shooting from the field in the final 10 minutes, including 0-for-6 from three-point range.

Tate scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the second half and Sikkink scored 10 points in the final 20 minutes. The duo combined to score 26 of Wheaton's 34 points in the second half of the game.

The Thunder return to action this weekend to host the Beth Baker Classic in King Arena. Wheaton entertains Maryville (Tenn.) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in night one of the tournament. The Thunder take on Otterbein Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in the final game of the classic format tournament.