Defense down the stretch leads Kalamazoo College Women's Basketball to 58-53 win over Trine

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By Mitch Blankespoor

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Trailing 32-27 at halftime of a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) game against the Trine Thunder Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Kalamazoo College women's basketball team used team defense to hold Trine to a single field goal over the final eight minutes en route to a 58-53 victory.

Kalamazoo senior forward Nicole Antoine paced the Hornets with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Georgia native also added two assists, one block, and a steal on the game. Fellow senior India Hoskins scored 11 points on 4-7 from the field.

Defensively, junior Perri Nicholson and freshman Grace Smith each grabbed eight rebounds with Smith scoring seven points and Nicholson chipping in four points.

Kalamazoo trailed by as many as eight points (28-20) in the first half, but battled back to within three when junior guard Emily Lindsay nailed one of her two three-pointers with 2:16 to play in the first half. Trine would convert the final basket of the first half and went into the locker room with a five point lead.

The Hornets took their first lead (46-45) of the second half on a layup from junior guard Morgan Overstreet with 8:33 to play. Both teams went back and forth until Hoskins nailed a triple to give K a 51-48 lead it would not relinquish.

As a team, the Hornets outrebounded Trine 43-32 in the game. The Thunder, however, made up for their rebounding discrepancy by forcing turnovers. The visitors from Angola, Ind. forced 21 Kalamazoo turnovers and converted those turnovers into 16 points.

Both teams shot 33 percent from the field. Trine made 19 field goals compared to 18 for Kalamazoo. The Hornets won the game at the free throw line sinking 18-22 shots from the charity stripe. Trine, on the other hand, went 11-17 from the free throw line.

Kalamazoo improves to 9-7 on the season. The Hornets finish the first half of MIAA play in fourth place with a 5-3 record. Kalamazoo returns to action Saturday, Jan. 25 when it hosts Albion for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff.