NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team came up short against in-state conference foe Trine in a 97-48 final on Saturday afternoon.
Maddie Rzepka opened the scoring with a good mid-range jump shot on the Belles' first possession of the contest. The Thunder posted the next seven points to gain a 7-2 edge at 7:08.
Bella Dugas responded a put-back jumper in the paint, and Rzepka completed a three-point play on the next Saint Mary's possession to keep the Belles close at 9-7 four minutes into the game.
Christina Shadid drained a three-pointer from the right side of the floor to make it an 11-10 game in favor of Trine with 5:20 remaining in the opening period. After a Trine jump shot,
Kelsie Bies converted both ends of a trip to the free throw line to again edge Saint Mary's within a point at 13-12. Another spurt of seven points by the Thunder gave the visiting side a 20-12 lead with just under 2:30 on the clock.
Nikki Murphy added a free throw, and
Giavanna Paradiso hit a pair of free throws of her own to cut the deficit to seven. The Thunder pushed their lead to nine late in the quarter, but a hard-fought
Bella Dugas layup in the waning seconds of the period made it a 24-17 game at the first break.
A jumper by Paradiso and a three-pointer by Murphy kept the Belles within striking distance at 28-19 and 31-22, but the Thunder rattled off a 20-2 run over the next 5:06 to take a 51-24 lead with under a minute remaining in the quarter. Paradiso converted a three-point play with less than 30 seconds left on the clock, and the score stood at that same 51-27 margin at the halftime break.
That second-quarter run, however, was enough to shift the momentum for good in the contest as Trine held at least a 24-point lead for the remainder of the game.
Saint Mary's shot 41.7 percent from the floor and had a 29.4 percent effort from three-point range in the contest. Trine shot a season-high 58.9 percent from the floor and connected on 46.4 percent of their attempts from behind the arc.
The Belles (4-5, 1-1 MIAA) have a break from conference competition and will travel to cross-town foe IU-South Bend on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.