ANGOLA, Ind. – Erin Sherwood led the Trine University women's basketball team to a 71-48 win over Saint Mary's College on Saturday afternoon at the MTI Center. Sherwood scored 14 points for the Thunder (9-3, 3-0 MIAA) who raced past the Belles (5-8, 0-4 MIAA) in the first quarter and cruised to the win.
 
Sherwood led with 14 points while Madison Wagner and Olivia Marks added 12 and 10, respectively. Marks led with nine rebounds in a near double-double effort. Trine opened fast, taking a 13-0 lead in less than four minutes. Ally Capouch opened the run with a triple and added a second later. Annika Southworth also made a longball and Sherwood and Marks added baskets in the paint. The Belles got on the board with a layup but Trine answered with eight of the next ten and led 21-4 after one.
 
The Thunder continued to work the ball inside the paint, scoring their first 10 of the second half from there. Trine would score 42 of their 71 points from inside in what was a dominant effort. The lead ballooned to 23 when Wagner knocked in a longball with 2:07 left in the half. Saint Mary's answered by ending the half on a 10-0 run and trailed 35-22 at the break.
 
The momentum continued into the third quarter as the Belles chipped away at the Trine advantage, pulling as close as 37-31 before the Thunder offense had an answer. Trine finally countered with Marks notching a pair from the charity stripe and Wagner fighting inside to make a tough bucket. Trine picked up the pace on the next two baskets which came just 15 seconds apart and pushed the lead to 45-33. Sherwood scored inside with an assist from Sophie Gesell, and Zoe Willems led a fastbreak for a lay-in courtesy of Gesell. Trine scored the last five points of the quarter and led 52-38 heading to the final stanza.
 
Saint Mary's scored first but were answered by a silencing 14-0 run from the hosts, Sherwood started the run with a layup, then Marks and Southworth each added another, Marks converted on the and-one attempt and Hailey Cole closed the run with the next six points. Wagner added her second triple of the game in the closing minutes before the teams emptied the benches for the final minutes.
 
Trine hosts #9 Hope College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside the MTI Center in a battle of MIAA unbeatens.