WHEATON, Ill. - The Elmhurst women's basketball team's upset bid came up short as the Bluejays fell 72-60 at 16th-ranked Wheaton College.

Elmhurst (13-9, 6-5 CCIW) stayed right with Wheaton (20-2, 10-1 CCIW) for most of the cotnest, but a cold spell over the final nine minutes of the contest allowed the Thunder to pull away.
 

Wheaton scored the game's first six points and held the lead for almost the entire first half, but the Bluejays stayed close, matching basket for basket and pulling to within a point on a Mikaela Eppard layup with six minutes left in the half. The Thunder led by five with 1:28 left, but a three-pointer from Kaela Jones and a layup from Melanie Schwerdtmann pulled Elmhurst even at 32-32 with 40 seconds remaining. Wheaton's Katie McDaniels hit a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to give the Thunder a 34-32 lead at the half. 

The two teams continued to trade buckets at the start of the second half as Elmhurst grabbed its first lead of the game on a Katie Swanson three-pointer just five minutes into the half. The Thunder reclaimed the lead, but a three-point play from Fiona McMahon pulled the Bluejays even at 48-all with 11:30 left. Wheaton opened up a four-point cushion with nine minutes to play. Turnovers and missed shots allowed Wheaton to use an 10-3 run to open up an 11-point cushion with four minutes left. Elmhurst came no closer than 10 points the rest of the way as Wheaton pulled away for the 12-point win. 

Elmhurst shot 39.2 percent (20-of-51) from the floor, including 40.0 percent (8-of-20) from three-point range. The Bluejays committed 17 turnovers resulting in 19 points for Wheaton. 

Hannah Lipman paced the Bluejays in the loss with 15 points and five rebounds. McMahon and Swanson added 11 points and three assists apiece. Claire Monroe and Eppard chipped in with nine points each.

Wheaton finished the game shooting 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the floor and Thunder shot a rock-solid 94.7 percent (18-of-19) from the foul line. Katie McDaniels led the Thunder with 21 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor and 11-of-11 from the foul line. Ellie Zeller added 14 points while Hannah Considine scored 10. 

Elmhurst travels to North Park on Wednesday, February 11.