ANGOLA, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team stood their ground but fell in an 88-52 final against No. 13/19 (d3hoops.com/WBCA) ranked Trine on Saturday.

Julia Schutz hit a mid-range jumper off a feed from Elle Deardorff for the first bucket of the contest. Deardorff dialed in a three-pointer for a 5-2 lead. Trine tied things up with a three before Nikki Murphy drew a charge. Deardorff drained her second three of the contest for an 8-5 advantage three minutes into play. Maddie Rzepka added a good jumper on the next Saint Mary's possession for a 10-5 lead with 6:25 on the clock. A pair of baskets by the Thunder put Trine up 13-10 with five minutes to go. Those buckets started an 18-0 run over the remainder of the quarter for a 23-10 lead at the first break.

Elle Deardorff got the Belles back in the scoring column three minutes into the second quarter with a three-pointer. The junior guard then converted a pair of free throw attempts moments later, and Jasmyne Townsend added two free throws of her own to make it a 38-17 game with 4:26 on the clock. Julia Schutz connected on a second-chance layup, and Lauren Gumma hit a three-pointer to push the score to 46-22 with over a minute to go. Schutz then added a free throw late in the quarter to make it a 49-23 score at the half.

The Belles came out of the halftime break strong. Julia Schutz drained a three-pointer and added a jump shot on the next possession. Athena Samson connected on a jumper for seven quick points as Trine called a timeout. Maddie Rzepka added a layup a short while later as the Belles continued to work toward cutting into the deficit at 52-32. Schutz converted both ends of a trip to the charity stripe, but the Thunder were able to extend their lead to 63-34 with two-and-a-half minutes to go in the period. Lauren Gumma got the Belles back in the scoring column with a three-pointer with under two minutes on the clock, and Jasmyne Townsend drained a jumper late in the quarter to make it 65-39 through three quarters as the two teams tied in points in the period with 16 apiece.

Nikki Murphy opened the fourth quarter with a good jump shot, and Julia Schutz added two more free throws to make it a 65-43 game 1:23 into the period. Three consecutive buckets by the Thunder pushed the Trine advantage to 73-43 with 6:44 on the clock. Saint Mary's was unable to pull within fewer than 28 points down the stretch in the 88-52 final.

The two sides were tight on the glass at both ends with Trine taking a narrow 39-35 edge in rebounds in the contest. The Thunder capitalized on turnovers with a 33-10 scoring advantage off of giveaways while the Belles had a plus-six (11-5) margin in free throws made in the contest.

Julia Schutz led the Belles with 14 points in the contest, and Elle Deardorff added 11 as the pair both hit 50.0 percent of their shots in the game. Lauren Gumma hit a perfect 3-of-3 three-point attempts for nine points and added four rebounds. Jasmyne Townsend chipped in six points while Maddie Rzepka and Nikki Murphy each had four points. Murphy and Athena Samson paced the Belles with five rebounds apiece, and Murphy tallied three assists.

The Belles (5-10, 2-4 MIAA) return to their home court on Wednesday when they host conference foe Olivet for a 7:00 p.m. MIAA contest.