ANGOLA, IND.-- Trine's women's basketball team came up just short as the Thunder dropped a 59-50 decision to MIAA-foe St. Mary's Saturday afternoon in Hershey Hall.
The Belles didn't trail after the 16:53 mark of the first half. St. Mary's shot 42 percent from the field (21-of-50) while holding Trine to a 35 percent clip (21-of-60) and held a 40-26 edge on the glass. Leading the way for the Belles was Shanlynn Bias, who scored 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Alivia Recker (Arlington, Ohio/Arlington) led Trine with a game-high 14 points. The Thunder honored seniors Lauren Tait (Syracuse, Ind./Wawassee), Liz Hartley (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) and Megan Engle (Kell, Ill./Salem Community) prior to the game. St. Mary's improves to 6-13 overall and 4-6 in conference play. Trine falls to 4-14 overall and 1-8 in the MIAA.
Kelsey Henselmeier (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) notched 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Engle added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Krista Knapke scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting for St. Mary's. Ariana Paul added eight points and 14 rebounds. The Belles held a slight edge in points off turnovers 18-17.
St. Mary's took their first lead of the night when a Maddie Kohler jumper made it 4-3 with 16:53 to play in the first half. The Belles did not trail the rest of the night. They closed the first half on a 8-2 run over the final 3:16 to take a 27-20 lead into the break.
The Belles pushed their lead as much as 12 early in the second half, but a 10-2 run got the Thunder right back in it. Taylor Cole (Shepherd, Mich./Shepherd) scored four points and dished out an assist during that stretch. Kayla Dunn (Columbia City, Ind./Columbia City) cut the score to 42-38 on a jumper 10:28 remaining.
An 8-3 answer by St. Mary's pushed their lead back to nine. Kelsey Ronan scored four of those points for the Belles. Trine would get no closer than six the rest of the way
Trine returns to action Monday night when they travel to Calvin. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.