GRANVILLE, Ohio – The #24 Trine University women's basketball team bowed out of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at Denison University. Trine (23-6, 15-1 MIAA) fell 63-54 to the Big Red (26-2, 13-1 NCAC) who will advance to next weekend's Sweet Sixteen. Hailey Cole led with 11 points for the Thunder.
 
Ally Capouch added 10 points, Annika Southworth had seven points, five assists, and four rebounds.
 
Gracey Metz helped Trine recover from a slow start with a first quarter triple to cut the Big Red lead to 11-6. Points came at a premium in the first half, Denison led 23-15 at the break, Capouch scored five in a row for Trine and Cole added a layup to keep the Thunder in contention.
 
Shots started falling for Trine in the second half, scoring 39 of their 54 points in the frame. Denison's shots also fell, mostly from Abby Cooch who drilled seven threes and tallied 24 points for a game high effort. Trine trimmed the lead to six with an 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter. Sophie Gesell sparked the run with a block and a steal. Capouch and Zoe Willems scored inside to cut the deficit to six.
 
Trine made a final run in the fourth quarter, cutting the Denison lead to three. Capouch hit a triple and Southworth found the bottom of the net from the midrange. Trine trailed 53-50 with 4:28 left. The Big Red would regain momentum with the next seven points while holding Trine to just four points the rest of the way to seal the win.
 
This concludes the season for the Thunder.