ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst women's basketball team suffered a 78-67 setback at No. 23 Wheaton. 

Elmhurst dropped its second straight game for just the second time this season, slipping to 16-5 overall and 8-4 in the CCIW with the loss. Wheaton upped its record to 16-4 overall and 9-2 in league play. 

Wheaton scored the first six points of the game and 10 of the first 13 points and never trailed the rest of the way. The Thunder led by as many as nine points in the opening quarter and carried a 21-14 lead into the second quarter. Wheaton extended its lead to double digits in the second quarter and led 40-31 at the half. 

Wheaton pushed its lead up to 16 points late in the third quarter before Elmhurst mounted a rally. Trailing 52-36 with four minutes remaining, Elmhurst closed the quarter with a 10-4 run to pull to within 10 points after three quarters. Elmhurst closed the gap to seven points to start the fourth quarter, but Wheaton surged back pushing its lead back to 14 points with 7:40 remaining. 

Elmhurst made one last run, using an 11-4 run over the next three minutes to slice the Thunder's lead in half and down to seven points (67-60). The Bluejays went cold over the next three minutes as Wheaton ripped off a 10-0 run to open up its largest lead of the contest at 17 (77-60) before holding on for the 78-67 win. 

Elmhurst shot 40.0 percent (22-of-56) from the floor and from three-point range (6-of-15) in the loss. The Bluejays were outrebounded by the Thunder 41-32. Wheaton also outscored the Bluejays 46-28 in the paint. 

Mikaela Eppard led Elmhurst in the loss with 21 points while Kaela Jones pumped in 16 for the Bluejays. Kalia Summerlin added nine points for Elmhurst while Michaela Kumer came off the bench to score eight. 

Wheaton finished the contest shooting 50.0 percent (32-of-64) from the floor and 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from three-point distance. Five player reached double figures for the Thunder in the win. Katie McDaniels led the way with 16 points and five assists while Devin Kyler added a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Chantal Meached scored 13 while Maggie Dansdill added 11. Ellie Zeller came off the bench to score 12 for the Thunder.

Elmhurst hosts Carthage on Wednesday, February 8.