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Trine Women's Basketball Routs Kalamazoo on Senior Night
Wednesday, February 19, 2020

The Trine University women's basketball team recorded its largest margin of victory of the season with a 94-44 win against Kalamazoo (Mich.) College for its 12th-straight victory in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association action at the MTI Center on senior night.

Sophomore Kayla Wildman (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) scored a career-high 21 points to lead all scorers in the game. Wildman shot 80.0 percent (eight-of-10) from the floor, including 83.3 percent (five-of-six) from three-point range. Sophomore Sophia Kreag (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) was second with 12 points, followed by the duo of junior Shay Herbert (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) and freshman Sam Underhill (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview) with 11 points each. Underhill also grabbed a team-tying high six rebounds.

Senior Katy Steers (Portage, Ind./Portage) matched Underhill in rebounding with six boards and also had a game-tying high four assists to go along with six points.

The first points of the game came at the 8:24 mark of the first quarter with a pair of Kalamazoo (4-20, 2-13 MIAA) free-throws that gave the Hornets the early lead. Trine (20-4, 14-1 MIAA) then scored 11 straight points as part of a larger 15-3 scoring run that included back-to-back three-pointers by Herbert and Wildman to start the run and led to an 11-2 advantage with just under six minutes remaining in the period. The Thunder continued to pull away and led by as many as 14 points after another triple by Wildman to end the scoring and make the score, 26-12, after the first 10 minutes.

Herbert connected on another triple to begin the second frame and extended the margin to 17 points, 29-12. KZOO then scored on a triple and a layup to get to within 12 points and later matched that deficit two more times later in the period, including a 33-21 margin with 4:39 left in the half. Trine then took control with an ensuing 13-0 run to end the half and was capped by a layup by sophomore Rachel Stewart (Pekin, Ind./Eastern) to send the Thunder into the locker rooms leading by 25 points, 46-21.

The scoring run continued to start the third quarter of play as layups by Herbert, Wildman and sophomore Tara Bieniewicz (Chesterfield, Mich./Dakota) netted Trine its first 30-point lead of the contest, 52-21, at the 7:55 mark. The Thunder opened the third period with a 16-2 scoring margin to complete an overall 29-2 scoring advantage stemming back to the end of the second frame to lead by 39 points with just under six minutes to go. The home team eventually clipped the 40-point plateau at the 4:15 mark after yet another three-pointer by Wildman to make the score 67-27 en route to Trine boasting a 41-point advantage heading into the final quarter, 73-32.

With the game already well in hand and leading by 39 points late in the fourth quarter, 83-44, the Thunder put an explanation point on the already impressive victory by scoring the final 11 points which ended in a three-point play by freshman Makayla Ardis (Lake City, Mich./Lake City) and gave Trine its largest lead of the game with a final score of 94-44.

Trine will conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22 when it travels to Holland, Mich. for a MIAA matchup against No. 2 nationally-ranked Hope College and could decide who will get the top overall seed in this year's conference tournament. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.



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