WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[TUAngola]

It's gonna be tough for Trine tonight.  Having the home court advantage is huge, the gym will be packed with rabid Pioneer fans.  Transy is very good.  I wasn't sure if they were the real deal or not since their conference isn't that strong.  But after watching the first half of their game last night against UMHB I think they can play with anybody.  They have a couple of skilled 3-point shooters in Kellione and Stacy.  You can't give them an open look or they will burn you.  Thornton inside is hard to keep off the boards.  Massey says we're favored but I honestly think we're the underdog going into tonight's game.  I think the key will be 1) we need to keep them off the boards 2) not give up uncontested 3s to Kellione and Stacy 3) need better post play out of the Sloneker twins, Sam Underhill and especially Kelsey Taylor.  Taylor wasn't very effective yesterday, she needs to play much better tonight.

[Roundball999]

Good luck to the Trine Thunder!  They've already shown they can go to a top team's home court and end a long winning streak (still hurts to talk about it) so hear's hoping they do it again tonight!

[Jester1390]

Ball getting the 2 nd foul and not the jump huge call.  Transy missing her greatly on the floor

[Jester1390]

Ball is important. But this guy going off about her sitting she isn't 20 pts swing stop.    13-0 bench points for trine.   

[Jester1390]

Really smart coaching by trim 3 possessions in a row going at ball to get foul she has to be smarter can't foul from behind

[Jester1390]

Really smart coaching by trim 3 possessions in a row going at ball to get foul she has to be smarter can't foul from behind  now a 4th . Players worrying more about refs then playing

[scottiedawg]

Trine allowed 4 points in the 2nd quarter, and 4 in the 3rd. Insanely good defense.

[scottiedawg]

Morehouse is so freaking impressive.

In the tournament she's cleaned up her turnovers and FT shooting.

In addition to all the other ever-present positives.

She's been tremendous.

[NW Hope Fan]

Trine allowed 4 points in the 2nd quarter, and 4 in the 3rd. Insanely good defense.

Hard to win when you only score 8 in a "half" of basketball...
Great win Trine! HOPE to see you next week.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I think they forgot to take the lids off the rims tonight.   Hate to see the Pioneers go down but it was a heck of a game.
Good luck in Pittsburgh next week Thunder. Rest of D3 is 0fer against Transylvania and Hope so far this year.

[scottiedawg]

Trine holds Transylvania 38% below their season scoring average, 32% below their season FG%, and 36% below their season 3PT%.

[NW Hope Fan]

Hope/Trine IV next week!!!

[TUAngola]

FINAL FOUR BABY!!!!  TRINE 54 TRANSYLVANIA 47!!!

Defense travels!  It's just amazing what Trine can do defensively to take other teams out of their offensive flow.  We held Transy to 4 points in the second quarter and 4 points in the third quarter, our D held them to 3-26 shooting over those 2 quarters.  We needed our D to take control because Transy came out juiced and got their crowd into the game early.  It was a "Hope-like" atmosphere at their gym.  Transy was smart in that even though they played zone, they extended it out very far to not let Tara get any good looks from 3.  It was not looking good at the end of the 1st quarter, Transy up 19-8.  They were very aggressive on the boards, which I knew they would be.  One of my keys was to limit their second chance opportunities but the Pioneers ended up outrebounding us 44-31 with 17 of Transy's boards on the offensive end.  Another one of my keys was that we needed better play out of Kelsy, Sam and the Slonekers.  Enter Miss Sam Underhill who was HUGE in the second quarter getting us going offensively.  I think she had 8 in the second, and also Transy finally lost track of Tara a couple times and she hit 2 huge 3 pointers.  And Katie Sloneker had one of her best games, not known for her outside prowess she nailed a 3 pointer in the closing minute to give us a 29-23 lead at half.  A slow start offensively to the 3rd quarter for Trine, but our defense kept Transy from making any kind of a run.  They scored the first 3 points of the quarter but then we go on a 10-0 run to take control and lead at the end of the 3rd 41-27.  Fourth quarter was a big struggle, we couldn't hit anything and Transy made a run.  It took us over 6 minutes to score with Katie Sloneker making a huge left-handed sweeping hook shot to break the ice.  Transy cut the lead to 5 points on 3 occasions but we got huge buckets from Makayla Ardis and Rachel Stewart and the Pioneers could not get any closer.  They had to foul and we hit 5-8 free throws in the last minute or so to ward off their final attempt.

So Transy wins the 1st and 4th quarters, but our 2nd and 3rd quarters were just steller.  My final key was to limit Kellione and Stacy from getting open looks from outside and we locked them down.  They ended up shooting a combined 2-11 from 3.  Kellione did end up with 15 points as she is also adept at getting into the paint and scoring.  Sam led us with 11 points, Tara with 10, Kaylee Argyle with 9 including a perfect 6-6 at the FT line, and Katie Sloneker with 8.  I'm sure Transy had not seen a defense like this all year, we made them uncomfortable all night in running their offense.  Also their lack of depth was a factor as our bench outscored theirs 27-3.   

I was only able to get one update at the game on how Hope was doing and was told Hope had a slim lead at half.  So happy they had a great second half to win!!.  Can you believe Hope-Trine for a fourth time in the final four??  I'd like Trine to win for sure but if they do lose I'd want it to be to Hope.  Gosh I wish the girls final four was in Ft Wayne like the men!  I think Hope and Trine would have had at least a couple thousand fans each.  But alas it's in Pittsburgh.  I won't be able to swing getting off work next week to travel to PA so will have to watch from home.

[TUAngola]

...I also wanted to mention our Trine mens basketball team seniors were all at the game and were so loud!  Since we had no cheerleaders because of spring break, they were our cheerleaders!!  Great job Reese, Aiden, Bryce, Mitch and Nick!!

[scottiedawg]

Massey ranked defenses 1, 2, 4, 9 are in the Final Four.  Oshkosh almost made it the top 4.