OSHKOSH, Wisc. – The Trine University women's basketball team was on the road on Friday night at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh where the Thunder (22-7) were triumphant over Gustavus Adolphus College (25-3) in double overtime, 61-58.
Trine advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament to face the host #18 Wisconsin-Oshkosh Titans at 7 p.m. CST (8 p.m. EST) on Saturday, March 2.
"This game meant a lot to us," Sidney Wagner mentioned in the postgame press conference. "This season has been a little bit of a roller coaster and to beat a nationally-ranked team in a battle like that makes us really excited."
Sierra Hinds got the game started with a made jump shot, but Trine fell behind 8-2 early in the contest. Wagner, Erin Sherwood and Katie Tate all made field goals, but after one Gustavus Adolphus claimed a 12-10 lead.
A 12-2 run to begin the second quarter allowed the Thunder to reclaim the lead at 22-14. Tate and Hinds had three-point plays during the scoring run. The lead grew to eight multiple times in the second, but ultimately at halftime, the score read 27-21 in favor of Trine.
Each time the Gusties cut the deficit to one score, the Thunder were able to answer on the offensive end in the third quarter. The final 2:46 of the period was without a basket as Trine took a 37-33 lead into the final frame.
Seven straight points from Gustavus Adolphus put the #5 team in NCAA DIII back in front 40-37, but it was Abby Sanner who was called upon coming out of a timeout to get Trine going. Wagner buried a three-point field goal with 2:33 on the clock to get the game back to even at 46-46. The teams traded baskets and the score remained tied for the final opportunity by the Gusties. The final field goal try of regulation was off target and to overtime the teams went.
"Coach Rang tells us to dig deep and that we've got to want it," Tate said. "I think we really showed that with the way that we played. We stuck to our gameplan and got stops, which was the most important part."
Gustavus Adolphus knocked down a shot from long range on the opening possession, but three straight makes inside the arc by Trine made it 54-51. After the string of three consecutive makes, the Thunder went cold for the remainder of the period and once again needed a stop to continue the game. The staple of the team this season would come through yet again as Trine would force a second overtime period with a stop.
Up 57-56, Jada Rhonehouse came up with a steal that led to a transition layup by Wagner to give the Thunder some breathing room at 59-56 with less than one minute to go. A made jump shot by the Gusties made it a one-point game and Head Coach Andy Rang used a timeout to regroup. Hinds calmly buried two at the charity stripe to make it a 61-58 game and the defense stood tall by forcing three misses by Gustavus Adolphus to close the book on the game.
"It felt like we got stops when we needed to," Coach Rang commented postgame. "We built this team on our defense and I thought we played some really good defense tonight."
Wagner led the team in scoring with 17 points, but Tate (15 points) and Sherwood (10 points) were also in double figures. Despite shooting just 38.3% (23-for-60) from the field and 20.0% (2-of-10) from downtown, the defense contained the Gusties to 34.3% (24-for-70) in total and 10.5% (2-for-19) from beyond the arc. Sanner was the team leader with seven rebounds while Wagner recorded five steals.