ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's basketball team took over the top spot in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings with an 82-38 victory over Kalamazoo College on Monday night in a makeup contest from a previous postponement. It is the eighth straight win for Trine as they look to ascend the national poll.
The Thunder (15-2, 9-1 MIAA) were able to get scores from 14 different players in the 44-point win. The Hornets (3-14, 1-7 MIAA) were contained to just 28.3% (13-for-46) from the field, but brought in 13 offensive rebounds for an even rebounding battle at 40-40.
Kelsy Taylor [Louisville, Ky. / New Albany] had this to say about how they get such big performances from every player that steps foot on the court, "Everybody needs to bring energy, it's not just about the starters or who plays the most. Everybody plays their part and everybody here is a team player."
Trine led wire-to-wire following a score by Alyssa Argyle [Freeland, Mich. / Freeland] 10 seconds in. Taylor used a post move to secure her first basket of the night and Argyle once again scored, this time from long range to get the Thunder points on their first three possessions offensively.
A Makayla Ardis [Lake City, Mich. / Lake City] steal led to a Kayla Wildman [Rockford, Mich. / Rockford] three-point field goal to make it 10-2 less than three minutes in. Sam Underhill [Grand Rapids, Mich. / Northview] made it a double-digit game at 16-5 at the halfway point in the quarter.
Sophie Sloneker [Monroe, Ohio / Monroe], Rachel Stewart [Pekin, Ind. / Eastern], Sierra Hinds [Carmel, Ind. / University] and Brooke Brauher [Big Rapids, Mich. / Morley Stanwood] all recorded scores to put eight Thunder athletes in the scoring column in a 27-9 first period.
A 10-0 scoring run for Trine saw five different players score the basketball as the balanced effort continued into the second quarter. Stewart would sink a pair of lay-ups to wrap up a fairly low scoring frame, but the Thunder would carry a 41-17 lead into intermission. Trine dominated first half action inside with a 22-2 point differential in the painted area.
A Taylor and-one followed by an Ardis lay-up fueled the second half as the Thunder refused to allow Kalamazoo to get back into the game. Taylor secured an offensive rebound that led to an Argyle jump shot to cap a 7-0 run to start the third.
Hinds really made an impact in the third quarter with seven of the freshman's career-high 12 points coming in the frame. Hinds finished an and-one off the feed from Sidney Wagner [Warsaw, Ind. / Tippecanoe Valley] to make it 54-20 with under four minutes left in the quarter.
"Having this opportunity is amazing," Hinds mentioned postgame. "We (the freshman class) picked one of the top programs for a reason, to be able to learn from the upperclassmen. It's not about me, it's about the team and we did what we could to win tonight."
Emma Hoover [Wabash, Ind. / Northfield] took a loose ball the other way for two to end the third at 65-25.
Kearston Stout [Wabash, Ind. / Northfield] connected for makes on back-to-back possessions midway through the fourth and Macayla McGowan [New Castle, Ind. / New Castle] and Tiana Maat [Victoria, BC, Canada / Belmont Secondary] concluded the 82-38 victory with points as well.
Alyssa Argyle led the way with 13 points with Hinds (12) and Wildman (10) in double figures as well. Taylor and Wagner tied for the team-lead with six rebounds each, five of which came on the offensive end of the floor for Taylor. Ardis distributed a team-high five assists.
As a team, the Thunder scored 30 points off of turnovers compared to just one for the Hornets. Trine forced 28 Kalamazoo miscues on the night.
The next scheduled game for the Thunder women comes on Wednesday, February 2 at 7:30 pm against Albion College at home in MTI Center.