ANGOLA, Ind. - #8 Hope College battled with the #11 Trine University women's basketball team on Wednesday night, but ultimately the Flying Dutch were able to prevail by a score of 83-69. Hope dominated the first quarter and despite multiple attempts at a rally, none of them were strong enough for the Thunder to take the lead in the contest.
Trine now holds a record of 14-4 overall and remains in first place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings at 8-1. The Flying Dutch are 17-2 in the 2022-23 season and 8-2 in conference play.
Hope could not miss in the first quarter of play, going 10-for-14 from the field in a 26-point stretch. The Flying Dutch buried six three-point field goals in nine attempts to widen the lead to 15. Makayla Ardis and Katie Sloneker split the scoring evenly with five each and Sophie Sloneker chipped in a free throw.
Early in the second period, Hope got the lead up to 19 at 34-15 before head coach Andy Rang was forced to take his second timeout of the night to try to stop the bleeding. Ardis, who finished with a career-high 29, continued to score the basketball in the half, but a big spark was provided by Abby Sanner off the bench. She had three points and three rebounds in the second quarter alone to cut into the Hope advantage.
At the half, the Flying Dutch held a 41-27 edge. They held the Thunder to 9-of-29 from the field while shooting above 50% themselves on the offensive end. The team had eight assists on the nine made shots, led by Sidney Wagner and Katie Tate.
Ardis helped get the game back to single digits with eight of the first 10 points for Trine in the third quarter, including a pair of made shots from beyond the arc. An and-one by the senior around four minutes in to the period got the team as close as they would be the rest of the night at 46-40. Unfortunately, Hope would counter with an 11-2 run to pull away once more. Through 30 minutes, the score was 62-44 Flying Dutch.
Wagner finally began to hit her stride in scoring in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to stop the red hot offense of Hope. Tate found her for back-to-back three-point makes three minutes in and she would end the fourth quarter with 13 points, matching Ardis' third quarter total. Sierra Hinds was able to score eight points in just two minutes in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of three-point field goals in a 83-69 loss.
29 points for Ardis matches Wagner's total from the road matchup with Hope and ties for the highest point total by a Thunder women's basketball player this season. She went 9-of-16 from the field, 4-of-9 from three and buried all seven free throws. Wagner finished the day with 19 points, the only other scorer in double figures. Sanner led the team in rebounding with nine and Tate distributed a team-high five assists.
Trine looks to rebound on Saturday, January 28 when the team travels to Olivet College to take on the Comets. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.