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Trine Women’s Basketball Takes Victory Against Saint Mary's (Ind.)
Wednesday, January 15, 2020

The Trine University women's basketball team held its opponent to just seven points in the second and third quarters as the Thunder won at home, 66-37, against Saint Mary's (Ind.) College in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association game at the MTI Center in Angola, Ind.

The Thunder had a balanced scoring attack with only two players scoring in double figures. Sophomore Tara Bieniewicz (Chesterfield, Mich./Dakota) led all players with a game-high 16 points on six-of-10 shooting (60.0 percent) that included four of her made field goals coming from three-point range (four-of-eight overall). Freshman Sam Underhill (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview) was the other Thunder player in double digits in scoring with 10 points.

Trine held Saint Mary's to just 25.0 percent shooting for the game (12-of-48) despite some competition by the Belles in the first quarter. Trine (11-4, 5-1 MIAA) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead to start the game, but a pair of free-throws and then a three-pointer by Saint Mary's (6-9, 3-3 MIAA) made it a one possession game, 7-5, with a little over four minutes remaining.

Back-to-back baskets by junior Jaycee Parrett (Wabash, Ind./Wabash) and Underhill, followed by one-of-two free-throws by Underhill, put Trine back out in front by a more comfortable seven points, 12-5, at the 1:31 mark. Saint Mary's then outscored Trine, 5-2, to end the period to creep to within four points, 14-10, after the first 10 minutes.

Following a brief scoring drought by both teams to start the second quarter that lasted 2:37, the Belles connected on a triple to get to within a point, 14-13. Trine's offense then began to find its rhythm with a 12-3 scoring run that ended in a layup by Underhill and gave the home team its first double-digit lead of the game of 10 points, 26-16, with just under two minutes to go in the half.

After a free-throw by Saint Mary's cut the lead to nine points, sophomore Kaylee Argyle (Freeland, Mich./Freeland) hit a three-pointer before the half expired to increase the margin back to double figures as the Thunder went into the locker rooms leading by 12 points, 29-17.

Trine continued to pull away in the third quarter as the Thunder outscored the Belles, 21-7, for the period. Trine opened the third period with 11 straight points for a streak of 14 unanswered that began with Kaylee Argyle's triple that ended the first half to make it a 26-point game, 43-17, at the 5:49 mark. Following two free-throws by Saint Mary's, the Trine scoring run continued with a layup by sophomore Kelsy Taylor (Louisville, Ky./New Albany) and three free-throws by Underhill to cap an overall 22-2 run to pad the advantage to 29 points, 48-19, with 3:38 left.

Scoring in the quarter ended with one-of-two free-throws by Saint Mary's, but Trine still maintained a sizeable 26-point margin, 50-24, heading into the final period.

The fourth quarter saw Trine post its largest lead of the game with just under two-and-a-half minutes remaining when freshman Makayla Ardis (Lake City, Mich./Lake City) scored on a layup that gave the Thunder a 30-point lead, 64-34. Fellow freshman Alexa Porter (Goshen, Ind./Concord) scored what turned out to be the final points of the contest on a layup with 22 seconds on the clock as the Thunder cruised to the 66-37 final.

Trine will host Albion (Mich.) College on Saturday, Jan. 18 in a MIAA game at the MTI Center. The game is slated to begin at 3 p.m.



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