ANGOLA, Ind.-- Hot-shooting by 16th-ranked Carthage paced the Lady Reds to a 77-44 victory over Trine in the home-opener for the Thunder Tuesday evening at Hershey Hall.
Carthage connected on 60 percent of their shots from the field (31-of-51) in the victory. Michelle Wenzel paced all scorers with 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and added seven rebounds. Stephanie Kuzmanic added 15 points and a game-high nine assists for the Lady Reds. Alivia Recker led the Thunder with 13 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and four steals. Recker has led Trine in scoring in each of the last two games. Carthage improves to 4-0 on the season, while Trine falls to 0-4.
Amy Newell added nine points for Trine on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor. Kelsey Henselmeier added seven points and four assists. The Thunder shot 32.6 percent from the field (14-of-43) and hit 14-of-25 from the charity stripe (56 percent).
Alexis Hahn notched 12 points off the bench for Carthage. Erin Quinn filled the stat sheet with seven points, six assists and three rebounds. The Lady Reds held a 38-14 advantage in points in the paint.
Carthage jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the game's first three minutes. The Thunder were able to rally to pull the score within 11-10 with a 10-2 spurt over the following four minutes of play. A fast-break layup by Newell got the Thunder on the board, before a Recker three and bucket by Henselmeier cut the deficit to two. After a Lady Red bucket, a pair of free throws by Megan Engle and a free throw by Katelyn Sager cut the score to 11-10.
From that point on, it was all Carthage. The deciding 23-4 run over the next 10 minutes by the Lady Reds effectively put the game out of reach. Hahn scored eight of her points during the run, which concluded with Carthage holding a 34-14 lead with 3:14 to play in the half.
The Lady Reds would go on to lead by as many as 35. Carthage continued their hot shooting in the second half, hitting at a 64 percent clip (16-of-25). Recker scored 10 of her points in the second half to pace Trine, knocking down 4-of-5 shots from the field.
Trine will return to action this Saturday, Nov. 30 when they host Anderson (IN) in a non-conference game at 3:00 p.m. in Hershey Hall.