FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team defeated Trinity Christian College, 96-71, Saturday afternoon inside the Schaefer Center to move their record back over the .500 mark.
Grand Smith led all players with a career-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Josh Kline added 13 points and nine rebounds while
Cory McKinney had 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Rog Stein and
Max Perez each chipped in 10 points, with the former collecting eight rebounds and five assists while the latter added five assists and two rebounds in his first collegiate start. Tech outscored the Trolls 58-38 in the paint and had 21 points off turnovers while limiting TCC to just eight points off turnovers.
The Warriors found themselves struggling to find the bottom of the net early in the game as the Trolls got out to a 16-7 lead five minutes into the contest. Stein woke up the Tech offense though as he found a leaping
Lucas Lehrman for the slam dunk to wake up the Schaefer Center and start a 16-4 run and go up 23-20 with 8:55 to play in the first half. The Trolls tied the game up at 23-23 the 7:15 mark, snapping a 5:44 scoring drought for the visitors, but the Orange and Black responded with a 23-10 run over the final six and a half minutes of the half to take a 46-33 lead into the locker room. Smith scored nine of his 15 first-half points in the final 5:17 of the period.
Tech's offense continued to churn in the second half as they opened the period on a 15-2 run over the first five minutes to push their lead up to 26 points, their largest of the game. The Warriors Trinity Christian had a late push to try and make a comeback as they cut the deficit to 77-60 with 6:50 left in the game following a 12-5 spurt. A triple from
Jeremy Davison quickly silenced any threat of a comeback though as they lead was pushed back up to 20 points and the hosts never let the advantage dip under 20 again.
Tech (3-2) returns to action on Thursday, Nov. 19 as they open Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play against perennial power and rival Cornerstone University. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.
