After a successful trip to Holland, Michigan and a journey to Gallatin, Tenn., the Wheaton Women’s Basketball team had two strong CCIW wins to start of the new year.
After finishing their finals, the Wheaton women competed in the Hope College Post Exam Jam Tourney where they handily beat Rochester College (69-59) and Finlandia University (85-50). Of the eight total quarters of play that Wheaton participated in, they were only outscored in three of those quarters by three points or less (two quarters against Rochester and one against Finlandia). In the Finlandia game, Wheaton outscored the Lions 24-2 in the second quarter of play.
Thunder junior Devin Kyler was awarded the tournament MVP award. Kyler scored 31 points and had 10 rebounds during the tournament. Senior Maggie Dansdill and sophomore Hannah Frazier were named to the all-tournament team as well.
Wheaton finished out their 2017 competition at the Music City Classic hosted by Volunteer State Community College. Despite a 25-point scoring effort by senior guard Kelly Lawson, the Thunder lost to the University of Scranton 67-53 on Dec. 29, 2017. Wheaton was simply outplayed by the then-20th nationally ranked Scranton on nearly every level of the court. Coming out strong initially in the first quarter, the Thunder looked like they would keep pace with the Lady Royals. The Scranton defense then held the Thunder to under 20 points in every quarter that followed.
Looking for redemption, the Thunder boomed onto the court against Marywood and won 75-42. Wheaton outscored their opponent 22-7, 17-10, 18-12 and 18-13 in each quarter. Frazier led the team offensively by scoring 12 points, but sophomore Jill Berg followed close behind with 11 points and two steals. After having a rough three-game point drought, sophomore Kristi Demski was able to score nine points and also had a steal.
Returning back to the Chicago wind and northern winter chill, the Thunder hosted CCIW opponent Carthage College on Jan. 4, 2018. The game was originally scheduled for Jan. 3, 2018, but a power outage at Tarble Arena in Kenosha caused the game to be postponed and the location be moved to King Arena on Wheaton’s campus. Wheaton improved their overall record to 8-4 and their CCIW record to 2-2 after a 72-59 victory over the Lady Reds. Frazier, Dansdill, Kyler and sophomore Jordan Myroth all scored double digit numbers with 24, 17, 13 and 11 points respectively. Frazier did get the Thunder rumbling and rolling by scoring the first six points of the game, and she started the second half in similar fashion by stretching the Thunder’s lead to 17-points.
On Jan. 6, the Thunder won a critical CCIW matchup against North Park. Although both teams came into the game with the same records, the final score of 87-56 displayed who was truly the better team. Frazier scored 16 points during the game, and Kyler scored 11 points as well. The Thunder women outscored the Vikings by at least seven points in every quarter except the final quarter where both teams scored 17 points. Frazier’s performances against Carthage and North Park earned her CCIW Player of the Week honors.
Yesterday evening, the Thunder hosted Augustana, another CCIW team, and won 73-56. Augustana then fell to 9-4 overall and 2-2 in the CCIW while Wheaton improved to 9-4 overall and 3-2 in the CCIW.