GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.  --  The Trine University women's basketball team cruised to a 36-point victory against Calvin (Mich.) College by a final of, 77-41, in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association matchup at Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Sophomore Tara Bieniewicz (Chesterfield, Mich./Dakota) scored a game-high 16 points on six-of-11 shooting (54.5 percent) with half of her made shots coming from three-point range (three-of-six).  Fellow sophomore Kayla Wildman (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) also scored in a double figures with a career-high 15 points and was followed by junior Shay Herbert (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) who rounded out the high scorers with 10 points to go along with a game-high eight rebounds.

In addition, senior Katy Steers (Portage, Ind./Portage) tallied game-highs of eight assists and five steals.

Trine (5-2, 2-0 MIAA) took advantage early and outscored Calvin (6-5, 0-2 MIAA), 28-11, in the first quarter.  The Knights started the game with a three-pointer, but the Thunder answered with 16 unanswered points, that included a pair of triples by Bieniewicz, en route to a 16-3 advantage at the 6:28 mark.  The lead never dropped below double digits the rest of the way and a triple by Herbert, followed by a jumper by sophomore Kaylee Argyle (Freeland, Mich./Freeland) put Trine out in front by 17 points, 28-11, after the first period.

The second quarter saw a more modest scoring differential, 16-13, in favor of the visitors.  Kaylee Argyle began the quarter with a layup to extend the margin to 19 points as Trine maintained its sizeable lead and went on to lead by as many as 22 points, 44-22, thanks to a three-pointer by Wildman with 3:15 to go in the half.  The final points came on a Calvin jumper, but Trine still had a 20-point lead at the break, 44-24.

In the third quarter, Trine put the game even further out of reach by holding Calvin to just three points for the period.  The only Knight points came within the first 2:27, but were then held scoreless for the remaining 7:33 as Calvin went one-of-17 from the floor, including 0-for-9 from behind the arc.  Trine ended the quarter with a 14-0 run and went into the fourth quarter leading by 35 points, 62-27.

Freshman Makayla Ardis (Lake City, Mich./Lake City) gave Trine its largest lead of the game of 41 points with three minutes to go in the game on a layup that made it a 77-36 ball game.  Calvin scored the final five points of the contest, but the Thunder already had the game well in hand and went on to the 77-41 final.

Trine will wrap-up its five-game road trip on Wednesday, Dec. 18 when it travels to Berea, Ohio to take on No. 18 nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace University in a non-conference game at Ursprung Gymansium.  The game is scheduled to tip-off at 5 p.m.