GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. -- Hometown native and junior Trine University women's basketball player, Sam Underhill (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview), scored a career-high 19 points to help lead the Thunder to an 82-59 win against Calvin (Mich.) University in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Underhill scored her game and career-high 19 points on seven-of-10 shooting (70.0 percent) and also had a game-best eight rebounds. Three other Trine players scored in double figures that included junior Kaylee Argyle (Freeland, Mich./Freeland) with 11 points and the duo of juniors Tara Bieniewicz (Chesterfield, Mich./Dakota) and Kelsy Taylor (Louisville, Ky./New Albany) who rounded out the leading scorers with 10 points each. Taylor also went on to grab six rebounds.
Taylor started the scoring in the first quarter with a layup that gave Trine (10-1, 4-0 MIAA) the early lead, but a three-pointer by Calvin (2-4, 1-1 MIAA) resulted in a one-point advantage for the home team, 3-2. A few possessions later, Trine regained the lead on a Bieniewicz triple and turned out to be the final lead change for the remainder of the game. The three-pointer by Bieniewicz was the start of a 6-0 mini scoring run for the Thunder for a five-point margin, 8-3, with just over five-and-a-half minutes to go in the period. About a minute past the midway point of the quarter, Trine took command when a pair of free-throws by junior Kayla Wildman (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) started a 13-1 run that swelled the lead to 15 points, 21-6, at the 1:08 mark. Calvin cut the deficit to 10 points with five unanswered points to end the period, but Trine still boasted a 10-point lead heading into the next frame, 21-11.
Calvin got the gap down to single digits with a layup to start the second quarter, but a pair of layups by Taylor and sophomore Makayla Ardis (Lake City, Mich./Lake City) increased the margin back to double figures where it remained the rest of the way. Trine's lead then eclipsed the 20-point benchmark late in the quarter as part of a 13-0 run to end the half and was capped by a layup by sophomore Alexa Porter (Goshen, Ind./Concord) that sent Trine into the locker rooms leading by a score of 48-21.
In the third quarter, the Thunder posted their largest lead of the contest with 7:38 to go when Ardis connected on a three-pointer to make it a 31-point game, 54-23. At the end of the quarter, Calvin had outscored Trine, 21-18, but the Thunder remained in control with a 66-42 score going into the final 10 minutes.
The Knights made it a 23-point game, 68-45, early in the fourth quarter until Trine answered with eight unanswered points that began with a layup by Bieniewicz and led to the Thunder equaling their largest lead of 31 points, 76-45, with 5:40 left on the clock. Trine matched that lead two more times before time expired which included an 80-49 advantage with 3:12 to play following a jumper by freshman Chelsi Giesige (Paulding, Ohio/Paulding). Calvin then ended the game on a 10-2 run, but the game was already well in hand for the visitors who went on to claim the 82-59 final.
Trine is scheduled to travel to Adrian, Mich. on Saturday (Feb. 20) to take on MIAA opponent Adrian College. The contest is set for a 1 p.m. start time.