Trojans Stave Off Trolls to Remain Perfect on Season

UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor women's basketball team (3-0) closed out an 87-56 win over Trinity Christian (0-1) early Saturday evening by using a 35-16 run over the final 11:33 of game time.

After having just one point at halftime thanks to an administrative technical foul charged to the Trolls, Ava Henson helped Taylor secure the victory with 19 second-half points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter, to lead all players in scoring on the night.

The first half of play was disjointed from both sides, with the teams picking up 11 fouls apiece and combining to shoot just 21-for-77 from the floor.

TU's defense got the best of Trinity Christian, though, forcing 13 turnovers by the intermission on the backs of two steals each from Henson, Kendall Wayne and Whitney Warfel.

Though many players struggled early, Wayne was in a nice rhythm with nine points on a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, five rebounds and two assists by halftime. McKayah Musselman also gave the Trojans quality minutes with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting at the break.

Henson started to gain traction from the very beginning of the third quarter with a backdoor cut for a layup and a three-pointer to hand Taylor a 44-22 edge. Both she and Emma Fohl notched two assists in that third frame, but the Trolls cut into the deficit in a big way by tightening the score to 52-40 late in the period.

A Maycee Woods three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer gave TU a nice boost heading into the fourth, a quarter in which Henson and the Trojans won by 15 as they took over the game on both ends of the court.

Henson was joined by Wayne, who matched her career-high of 15 points set on Tuesday, Woods (14 points) and Kacey Ott (12 points) as players in double figures for the Purple and Grey. Wayne and Ott both had eight rebounds to tie for the team lead in that category, with Ott also tallying three blocks to tie for her career high.

Quinn Kelly pieced together a solid night with five points, six rebounds and six assists – the last of which represented the junior's career high.

Taylor won the turnover battle, 25-9, showing marked improvement in a key category that also helped it attempt 28 more field goals than the visitors.

TU is off until Saturday, Nov. 9, when it travels to Olivet Nazarene (0-2) for a 2 p.m. ET tipoff in the first of a four-game road stretch.