ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's basketball team topped their fellow Indiana foe in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), Saint Mary's College, 95-44 on Wednesday night to secure their 13th straight victory.
The Thunder (21-2, 14-1 MIAA) are in the driver's seat for the top seed going into the conference tournament and can secure home court advantage with a win this Saturday at Adrian College or a Hope College loss at Kalamazoo College. The Belles (6-19, 5-11 MIAA) are locked into the number seven seed.
Kelsy Taylor [Louisville, Ky. / New Albany] netted the first six points of the game, but aside from the senior forward, Trine struggled early to put points on the board. Head coach Andy Rang called a timeout up 6-5 almost midway through the first quarter and that helped get the lid off the rim for the home team.
The final 15 points of the frame belonged to the Thunder, including scores by Sam Underhill [Grand Rapids, Mich. / Northview], Kayla Wildman [Rockford, Mich. / Rockford], Rachel Stewart [Pekin, Ind. / Eastern], Sidney Wagner [Warsaw, Ind. / Tippecanoe Valley], Alyssa Argyle [Freeland, Mich. / Freeland] and Brooke Brauher [Big Rapids, Mich. / Morley Stanwood].
Brauher completed the scoring run at 17 straight points following a made jump shot to begin the second quarter. Tara Bieniewicz [Chesterfield, Mich. / Dakota] put her name in the scoring column by knocking down a three-point field goal to take a 26-7 lead. Taylor became the only Trine player in double figures in the first half with four more points in the second quarter.
At the half, the Thunder led 48-18 and held Saint Mary's to 5-of-22 (22.7%) from the field.
Natalee Kunse [Clare, Mich. / Clare] got the second half started with a couple makes from deep to propel Trine to a 59-23 edge. Bieniewicz chipped in with two more shots from long range to give them four of their five makes from beyond the arc in the third quarter coming in the first four minutes.
Kaylee Argyle [Freeland, Mich. / Freeland] drove the lane and scored in the midst of an 11-0 scoring run for the home squad and ventured out to a 75-30 lead at the quarter break.
Sophie Sloneker [Monroe, Ohio / Monroe] continued to pour it on in the fourth quarter, while Kearston Stout [Wabash, Ind. / Northfield] and Tiana Maat [Victoria, BC, Canada / Belmont Secondary] got in on the scoring late in the 95-44 victory, a season-high in points for the Thunder.
As a team, Trine held Saint Mary's to 2-for-22 (9.1%) from deep, and will go a long way to the Thunder potentially breaking the school record for lowest opposing three-point percentage in a season. Currently, Trine is holding opponents to 22.0% from deep and the school record is 25.3% in the 1994-95 season.
The Thunder scored 32 points off of 23 Belle turnovers compared to just four points on 13 Trine miscues for Saint Mary's. "That's huge because those are normally easy buckets," the junior forward Underhill said postgame. "It's good to see because we've had some defensive lapses when we are beating teams by a lot, but it was good to see a full 40 minutes of defense tonight."
Alyssa Argyle was the scoring leader with 13 points, while Taylor and Bieniewicz each had 12 and Wagner provided 10 points off the bench. Kaylee Argyle had a team-high four of the team's 14 steals while Underhill and Brauher each brought down six rebounds, a career-best for the freshman Brauher.
On Saturday, February 19, it is the regular season finale at Adrian College. It is a women's and men's doubleheader beginning with tip-off for the women at 1 pm.