Dubuque, Iowa – The Washington University in St. Louis women's basketball team lost to Trine 79-69 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to conclude its season. The Bears finish out 17-9, the most wins since the 2018-19 season.
Three Bears reached double-figures in the loss, led by senior
Maya Arnott's double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Senior
Naomi Jackson netted 12 points with three assists while junior
Jessica Brooks added 11 points with four rebounds and three steals.
WashU fell behind 6-0 quickly in the first quarter and by midway through, Trine had built up a 10-point, 17-7 lead. A 3-pointer from sophomore
Sabrina DelBello cut it to a 19-12 lead but a layup from Katie Sloneker with six seconds remaining made it a 21-12 game in favor of Trine.
Trine opened the second quarter with an and-pone play from Sidney Wagner, bumping its lead to 24-12 with 8:51 on the clock.
Down 13 with 6:38 on the clock went on a 7-0 run, starting with a 3-pointer from
Jordan Rich. Arnott hit a pair of free throws and a layup to cut Trine's lead to 28-22.
Trine brought its lead back to 10 but a jumper from sophomore
Brenna Loftus and a free throw from Brooks send WashU into halftime trailing 32-25.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Jackson to open the second quarter made it a 34-31 game. Trine went on to build its lead back to nine points but WashU answered with an 11-0 run.
Senior
Karisa Grandison netted a 3-pointer followed by a pair of free throws and a jumper from Brooks. Arnott also added a pair of free throws to tie the game and then hit a jumper to give WashU a 46-44 edge with 2:22 left in the third.
Trine tied it back up at 46 and ultimately built up a slight 54-50 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
After Trine's Alyssa Argyle netted a 3-pointer to take a seven-point 59-52 lead, Jackson hit another shot from distance to cut it back to four points. The Thunder continued to hold onto a several-point lead, going up by as many as eight points in the next few minutes.
An and-one play from Brooks followed by a 3-pointer from DelBello cut Trine's lead down to 63-61 with 2:53 remaining but the Bears would get no closer as the clock ticked down.
Trine moves onto the Round of 32 to face Loras.
