WHITEWATER, WIS. -- The Trine University women's basketball team advanced in the NCAA Division III Tournament with a dominant win against Benedictine (Ill.) University, 65-37, in a first round game played at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Whitewater, Wis.
The Trine (22-6) defense held Benedictine (24-4) to just seven points and two made field goals (two-of-22) in the first half which led to a 31-7 halftime lead. The Thunder recorded their first points of the opening quarter at the 7:20 minute mark on a layup by senior Katy Steers (Portage, Ind./Portage). Trine scored the first 13 points as Benedictine missed its first five shots and committed six turnovers in the opening 6:39. The Eagles got on the scoreboard thanks to a free-throw and scored their first made field goal with 2:14 remaining in the period. The three points were all that Benedictine scored in the first 10 minutes as Trine added a free-throw by sophomore Kayla Wildman (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) and a jumper by freshman Sam Underhill (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview) to end the scoring and boast a 16-3 advantage heading into the second quarter.
The high pressure defense by Trine continued in the second period as the Thunder held the Eagles to four points. Trine scored the first seven points of the quarter that included a pair of free-throws by sophomore Tara Bieniewicz (Chesterfield, Mich./Dakota) and opened up a 20-point lead, 23-3, with 5:38 to go in the half. Benedictine then connected on a three-point play which was followed by a free-throw to make the score 23-7. The period ended with an 8-0 scoring run by Trine with the final points coming on a jumper by sophomore Kelsy Taylor (Louisville, Ky./New Albany) just before time expired and resulted in a 31-7 lead for the Thunder at the intermission.
Scoring began in the third quarter with a Benedictine free-throw and was then followed by a Trine triple by Bieniewicz that put the Thunder up by 26 points, 34-8, its largest lead of the game to that point. Benedictine scored the majority of its points in the third quarter as the Eagles put up 23 in the period. But the Trine lead never dropped below 16 points and grew to 19 points after three quarters of play by a score of 49-30.
Trine began the final quarter by outscoring Benedictine, 8-2, to lead 57-32. After a two-minute scoring drought by both teams, the Eagles scored a layup that was answered by eight straight points by Trine and ended in one of two free-throws by sophomore Hannah Milligan (Clinton Twp., Mich./Lutheran North) with 22 seconds left. The final points of the game came on a three-pointer by the Eagles, but Trine had already sealed the victory and went on to win by the final of 65-37.
Trine was led in scoring by the duo of Wildman and Steers who scored 14 points each. Wildman shot four-of-eight (50.0 percent) from the floor and Steers went six-of-12 (50.0 percent) in addition to grabbing eight rebounds.
Taylor finished with a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Bieniewicz also scored 11 points to round out the high scorers.
Trine advances to take on the University of Redlands (Calif.) in a second-round game of the NCAA Tournament tomorrow (Saturday, Mar. 7). The two teams will tip-off at 8 p.m. EST at Kachel Gymnasium in Whitewater, Wis.
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