Saint Mary's hosts Trine on Saturday in the MIAA opener for both teams. The Belles look to rebound from a disheartening 80-62 loss to Ohio Northern on Wednesday, which dropped Saint Mary's record to 3-2, while the Thunder come off Tuesday's 68-50 loss to Indiana Tech at 4-2.
The Belles swept last year's season series against Trine with two relatively easy victories by margins of 8 and 11, respectively. These wins played a pivotal role in Saint Mary's second-place finish in the MIAA last year with a 13-3 conference record, while the Thunder finished tied for third but well behind at 9-7. Trine looks to improve on last year's record with the addition of 11 new freshmen, while the Belles look to live up to the high expectations in the preseason MIAA poll, which had Saint Mary's at third in the conference behind only defending champion Hope and Calvin.
The Belles take on Trine at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Angela Athletic Facility.
