ANGOLA, Ind. - The Trine University women’s basketball team sent their three seniors out in style as they not only defeated Kalamazoo College 72-58, but earned the fourth and final spot in the MIAA Tournament. The win improves the Thunder to 14-11 on the season and 8-8 in the MIAA. The Thunder will make their first trip to the conference tournament since switching to a four-team format.
After Kalamazoo scored the opening points on a three, the two sides traded baskets before the Thunder took their first, and only, lead they would need on a three by senior Haley Killingbeck (Poneto, Ind./Southern Wells). The Thunder would open the game on a 21-8 run as they never trailing the rest of the way.
The Thunder would have to fight off a pesky Hornets squad early on as they cut into Trine’s lead.
Over the course of the final 5:07 of the first half, the Thunder out-scored Kalamazoo 12-4. Senior Megan Loveberry (Quincy, Mich./Quincy) hit a jumper with under 10 seconds left in the half as the Thunder took a 42-25 lead into halftime.
The 42 points scored by the Thunder was the second most they’ve scored in a first half this season, and just the third time they scored 40 or more in the opening frame. The Thunder were on fire in the first half as they hit 50% (16-of-32) from the floor, including 5-of-9 (55.6) from three-point range.
After Killingbeck hit another three to start the second half, the Hornets would go on a six point run to cut the Trine lead to 11, but the Trine defense would not allow them any closer. The Thunder pushed their lead to the largest of the game when senior Sydney Spragg (Reading, Mich./Reading) hit as jumper to give Trine a 67-49 lead with 5:24 to play.
All three Trine seniors went out on top as they were the top-3 leading scorers for the Thunder. Spragg scored a game-high 23 points including a near perfect 12-of-13 from the free throw line. Loveberry nearly matched Spragg, scoring 20 points, of which 12 came from long distance. Spragg and Loveberry led the Thunder with seven rebounds each while Spragg also led the Thunder with four steals. Killingbeck just missed scoring in double-digits as she added nine points, all of which came from behind- the-arc. Sophomore Kelsey Henselmeier (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) led the Thunder with a game-high four assists while matching Spragg and Loveberry with seven boards.
The win gives the Thunder their first winning record since the 2002-03 season in which they finished 18-13, their final season before becoming an NCAA school.
For the game, both sides made 23 fields goals but the Thunder were able to convert 18-of-25 from the line while the Hornets made just 5-of-10 attempts. Trine was also able to use Kalamazoo’s 23 turnovers to their advantage, converting them into 38 points.
Trine will travel to Calvin, who earned the top seed by a coin flip after tying Hope, for the semi-finals of the MIAA Tournament on February 20 at 7:30 p.m.
