KENOSHA, Wis. - It was a tough night for the Trine University women’s basketball team as they fell 84-34 to a strong Carthage squad that is ranked 22nd in one poll and 28th in another. The Thunder fall to 3-4 on the season.
The two teams traded punches early on in the game as they exchanged seven leads through the first 10 minutes. Trine led by three on several occasions, the last as the Thunder were up 17-14 with 9:19 to play. From there though, the Lady Reds would not allow a Trine field goal for nearly eight minutes before sophomore Kayla Dunn (Larwill, Ind./Columbia City) hit a layup with 2:33 left in the half. By then though, Carthage had built a double-digit lead as they closed the half on a 16-3 run as the Lady Reds led 32-20 at the break.
The offensive struggles for the Thunder continued at the start of the second half. Senior Haley Killingbeck (Poneto, Ind./Southern Wells) would make the first points, a layup at the 19:00 minute mark. But the Thunder would hit just 1-of-17 to start the half as they went nearly 11 minutes without scoring. It would again be Dunn who ended the scoring drought, but Carthage had pushed their lead to 40 points as the Thunder were unable to recover.
Dunn led the Thunder with 10 points on the night while Killingbeck added in five points, four boards and two blocks. Sophomore Kelsey Henselmeier (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) led the way with four assists while she and senior Sydney Spragg (Reading, Mich./Reading) also grabbed four rebounds.
It was a tough night from the floor for the Thunder as they made a season low 22.8 percent on 13-for-57 shooting. Carthage converted 33-of-63 (52.4%) from the floor on the night.
The Thunder will need to put the loss behind them quickly as they return to conference action on December 8 when they travel to Albion for a 3:00 p.m. game.