NOTRE DAME, Ind. - In a battle of in-state rivals, the Trine University women's basketball team fell to Saint Mary's 59-43. The loss drops the Thunder to 8-7 on the season and 2-4 in the MIAA.

The Belles jumped out early, scoring the first four points of the game en-route to leading 14-3 through the opening 10 minutes. The Thunder offense struggled early as they shot just 1-of-13 through that point. With the Thunder trailing by 12 with 7:46 to play in the half, the ladies came roaring back going on a 10-2 run to pull within four at 21-17. However, the Belles would score the final six points of the half as they led 27-17 at the break.

It wouldn't go Trine's way to start the second half, as the Belles opened on an 8-2 run to push their lead to 16 points. The Thunder would then hit a pair of three's and a layup to cut the lead back to 10, but Saint Mary's would answer with six points of their own. Neither team would be able to find the bottom of the net for near five minutes from there until the Belles broke the silence at the 8:54 mark.

Trine would again hit a pair of three's and a layup to pull within 10 at 45-35 with 7:13 to play. Saint Mary's would put the game away late though, as they scored eight unanswered points to lead by 19 points and under two minutes to play.

Senior Sydney Spragg (Reading, Mich./Reading) led the Thunder with 10 points. Sophomore Kayla Dunn (Larwill, Ind./Columbia City) just missed a double-double, finishing the night with eight points and eight rebounds. Freshman Alivia Recker (Arlington, Ohio/Arlington) added in seven points while leading the Thunder with three assists.

The Trine defense held the Belles to just one three-point attempt on the night. For the game, the Thunder converted just 27.8% (15-of-54) from the floor compared to 21-for-60 (35%) for Saint Mary's.

The team will head back out on the road to face Kalamazoo on January 12 for a 3:00 p.m. game.