ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's basketball team dominated their home and season-opener on Saturday night with a 93-33 win over Kenyon College.
The Thunder were able to win all four quarters by double figures, held the Kenyon Ladies to 26.2% (11-for-42) from the field, forced 29 turnovers and brought in 18 offensive rebounds.
Trine moves to 1-0 on the season and moves Kenyon down to 0-2 after a loss on Tuesday night.
Kelsy Taylor [Louisville, Ky. / New Albany] connected for a pair of lay-ups inside to make it 4-2 Thunder in the early minutes, but the Thunder were having a tough time getting the lid off the rim. The next basket would not come until the three-minute mark in the first, but from there it was a 13-3 scoring run that gave Trine breathing room.
Preseason All-American selection Tara Bieniewicz [Chesterfield, Mich. / Dakota] scored on the first three possessions of the second quarter, including a pair of shots from long range, to extend the lead to 26-7.
Rachel Stewart [Pekin, Ind. / Eastern] scored eight of the final 12 points of the second period for the Thunder and wrapped up the half with a team-high 12 points and four steals.
"We start every practice with defense and we did a good job at going over scouting," the senior guard Stewart mentioned postgame. "We knew we wanted to get into them, have our defense transition into offense and flow from there."
Trine carried a 43-17 edge through the halfway point and came out of the locker room with even more aggression. It was seven in a row coming out of the break for the Thunder, capped off by a three-point field goal from Kayla Wildman [Rockford, Mich. / Rockford], the 100th of her career.
Trine's defense held their opposition to just eight points in both the third and fourth quarters en route to the 93-33 win.
15 players were able to score in the victory, including the first career points for freshmen Sidney Wagner [Warsaw, Ind. / Tippecanoe Valley], Sierra Hinds [Carmel, Ind. / University], Macayla McGowan [New Castle, Ind. / New Castle] and Brooke Brauher [Big Rapids, Mich. / Morley Stanwood].
"Everyone wants to play for the team and not themselves, so someone gets a tip defensively and we all get out and run and hopefully it ends up in your hands," Stewart continued.
Stewart led the team with a career-high 16 points and was perfect from the field (8-for-8). Bieniewicz (15 points) and Taylor (11 points) were other double-digit scorers. Sam Underhill [Grand Rapids, Mich. / Northview] pulled down a game-high seven boards and Makayla Ardis [Lake City, Mich. / Lake City] led the team by dishing out five assists.
The Cameron Hospital Classic top open the women's basketball season at the MTI Center continues tomorrow when the Thunder play Denison University. They will tip-off at 3 pm following Albion College and Kenyon College.