ANGOLA, Ind. - The Trine University women's basketball team defeated the visiting Belles from Saint Mary's College in MIAA conference action 63-57, getting a little pay back from the last time the two teams met. With the win, the Thunder are now 11-9 overall and 5-6 in conference play on the year.

Senior Haley Killingbeck (Poneto, Ind./Southern Wells) opened the scoring for the game with a jumper a minute and a half into the game. Saint Mary's tied it up a minute later, and the two teams would trade baskets until the Belles took the lead at 14:12. Trine would battle back and take over the lead on a layup by senior Megan Loveberry (Quincy, Mich./Quincy) with 6:13 to go.

The back-and-forth play continued from there, until Trine went up by five on a jumper in the paint by freshman Alivia Recker (Arlington, Ohio/Arlington) with 11 seconds to go in the first half. The Belles would cut that deficit to three with a layup as time expired, as the Thunder led 31-28 at the half. Trine shot 36.4% from the floor in the first half and was 2-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Saint Mary's opened the scoring in the second half, cutting Trine's lead to just one. Trine answered back with a jumper by sophomore Kelsey Henselmeier (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) and a layup from senior Sydney Spragg (Reading, Mich./Reading), which put the Thunder back up by five. After two free throws by the Belles, Trine would go on an 11-0 run, started by Killingbeck drilling a three. The visiting Belles were not done however, and went on a 14-1 run of their own to bring the deficit to just two with 2:32 left in the game. Henselmeier would answer quickly, hitting a three, as the Trine defense would stand tall in the final minutes, holding off the Belles to take the rivalry game.

Henselmeier would lead all scorers with a game-high 18 points, including going 3-for-3 from behind the three-point line. Henselmeier would add four assists and three steals. Spragg scored 16 points and grabbed five steals. Loveberry finished the night with 11 points, to go along with a game-high seven steals and tied a game-high with five assists. Recker finished the game with eight points and two assists of her own.

The Thunder would shoot 38.7% (24-of-62) from the floor on the night and converted 21 points off of turnovers.

Trine returns to action on February 2 when they will travel to second ranked Calvin. Tip off will be at 1:00 pm.