Belles Toppled by Thunder

Box Score

• Gabby Diamond led the Belles with 17 points on the night while matching the team-high mark of six rebounds.
• Ally Steve added 11 points, and Megan Will posted five points.
• Kelsey Ronan chipped in four points while matching Diamond with six rebounds.

ANGOLA, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team fell in a 103-42 final against Trine (RV WBCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll/RV d3hoops.com) on Wednesday night.

After the host Thunder opened the game with a pair of three-pointers, the Belles came right back with seven consecutive points to claim a 7-6 lead three minutes in to the contest. Kelsey Ronan hit a layup on a second-chance opportunity, Ally Steve sunk a three-pointer of her own, and Steve made both ends of a trip to the free throw line count to give Saint Mary's the early advantage. Trine responded with six points over the next two minutes to make it a 13-7 game in favor of the Thunder midway through the period. Gabby Diamond hit a layup two possessions later for the Belles to keep Saint Mary's close at 13-9 with 4:30 still remaining in the opening stanza. Trine, however, closed out the final four-plus minutes with a 7-0 scoring run to claim a 20-9 lead at the first break.

Trine extended their lead to 16 points on two occasions early in the second quarter as the Belles continued to keep close to the league's second place team. Megan Will hit a fastbreak three-pointer off of a pass from Delaney Rohlman to cut the deficit to 13 at 29-16 with 5:48 still to play in the period. A short while later, Will and Aspen Davis each put two points on the board as Saint Mary's kept up the pace with the Thunder. A three-point play on the next possession by Trine, however, jump-started a 17-2 run over the final 3:25 of the half to give the Thunder a 52-22 lead at the midway break.

A cold-shooting third quarter continued to hold the Belles back in their efforts to threaten Trine's 6-1 home record. Ally Steve had three free throws, and Gabby Diamond sunk her first three-pointer of her collegiate career as the Thunder out-scored Saint Mary's by a 30-6 margin in the period. The Belles posted their highest single-quarter point total of the game in the fourth quarter with 14 points, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Gabby Diamond led the Belles with 17 points on the night while matching the team-high mark of six rebounds. Ally Steve added 11 points, and Megan Will posted five points. Kelsey Ronan chipped in four points while matching Diamond with six rebounds.

The Belles (1-17, 0-10 MIAA) travel to Calvin on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. contest against the Knights.