ANGOLA, Ind. – Prior to the start of the 2022-23 women's basketball season, D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) have unveiled their preseason polls. The Trine University women's basketball team is slotted eighth overall according to d3hoops.com and their panel of 25 head coaches, sports information directors and media members and enters the season second according to the WBCA rankings.
Last season, Trine went 28-4 and appeared in their first ever NCAA Division III National Championship Semifinal. The Thunder's 28 wins are a program record for most wins in a season and head coach Andy Rang has accumulated 91 wins already in just four seasons at the helm of the team.
Trine tied for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular season crown with a 15-1 conference record, a span that included the team's signature win at Hope College 70-62 on January 26, 2022. That victory snapped the Flying Dutch's 61-game winning streak, the longest in the NCAA at the time.
The five seniors for the Thunder in 2022-23 all played pivotal roles on last year's squad and bring a wealth of experience to the floor. Sam Underhill sits on exactly 500 points heading into the season and is looking to break the Trine DIII era record for career field goal percentage. Fellow seniors include Alyssa Argyle, Makayla Ardis, Katie Sloneker and Sophie Sloneker.
Ardis has 39 career starts, the most of any player of this year's team. She averaged a team-high 2.3 assists per game and just behind her was Argyle (2.1 APG). Katie Sloneker missed a portion of the season due to injury, but returned for the NCAA Tournament run and made a start in all eight postseason games. Sophie Sloneker appeared in 30 games in a flexible role off the bench as a guard or forward at times.
The 2022-23 season kicks off on Tuesday, November 8 with a men's and women's home doubleheader inside the MTI Center. The women's team faces Benedictine University beginning at 5:30 p.m. while the men's team hosts Manchester University shortly after at 7:30 p.m.