Brooke Olson and Hannah Considine combined to give Wheaton an early 11-2 advantage in the opening two minutes and 11 seconds. The Thunder would build their biggest lead of the half at 19-9 with 15:36 remaining in the half, but the Cardinals rolled off a quick 10-0 run to tie the game at 19. Wheaton would again open up a nine point lead at 42-33, but North Central chipped away and was able to cut the lead to two in the final minutes of the half. With time running out, Olson whipped a pass the length of the floor, finding Lauren Graham for a lay-up as time expired to give Wheaton a 50-46 halftime edge.
The hostes owned the opening minutes of the second half, using a 23-7 over the first five minutes of the half to extend their lead to 20 points. From there Wheaton would methodically expand the lead. Bri Graham's three-pointer with 1:12 remaining gave Wheaton a 113-76 lead and established a new school record for most points in a game. Graham would add a breakaway lay-up and Iris Cheng converted a three-point play in the final seconds to set the final tally at 118. Wheaton's biggest second half lead was 42 points en route to the 118-78 victory.
Wheaton's 78 second half points established a new school record for points in a half, eclipsing the previous record of 63. The 196 combined points also was a new school record for combined points. New school records were also established for field goals (46) and assists (34) in the victory.
Wheaton shot 55.4% (46-83) from the field and was 9-12 from the three-point line. The Thunder shot 68.0% (17-25) from the charity stripe. North Central shot 24.4% (20-82) from the field and 17.1% (7-41) from the three-point line while shooting a stellar 91.2% (31-34) from the free throw line.
Hannah Considine's 33 points was the ninth-highest individual output in school history tying her with Stephanie Clark, Karla Groen, Fran Barrett ad Bea Gorton. Brooke Olson just missed a triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to go with four steals. Breanna Bohlen (PICTURED RIGHT) added 13 points and Maris Hovee finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Wheaton improves to 15-3 on the season and 6-2 in the CCIW. The Thunder will host Augustana on Wednesday night at King Arena with a 7:30 PM tipoff.