On Wednesday evening, the Alma Women's Basketball team hosted Trine University in a game that had major implications for the fourth and final playoff spot in the upcoming MIAA Tournament. The Thunder squeezed out the hard-fought 59-52 victory to work their way into sole possession of fourth place in the league.

Alma is now 6-9 in the MIAA and 7-16 in 2012-13, while Trine improved to 7-8 in the league and 13-11 overall. The regular season concludes on Saturday afternoon with the Scots playing at Adrian and the Thunder hosting Kalamazoo.

Wednesday also marked Senior Night 2013 as three Scots players - G Olivia Bishop (Haslett, Mich./Haslett), G Stephanie Faller (Saginaw, Mich./Valley Lutheran) and F Danielle Hicks (Marshall, Mich./Marshall) - played their final home games for the school.

"Tonight we played hard but had some critical turnovers and Trine got to the line to take advantage," said Scots Head Coach Keisha Brown. "We will bounce back and come out strong on Saturday and see what happens."

The Scots fell behind quickly early 6-0 and found themselves down 16-2 with 12:19 remaining in the first half. A free throw by Fr. F Raeanna Zink (Birch Run, Mich./Frankenmuth) broke the run, but Alma still trailed 22-9 at the 6:44 mark.

Alma controlled most of remaining minutes of the first frame and cut the deficit to 24-22 on a free throw by Zink with 3:40 left. Both teams struggled offensively from there with Trine scoring the only bucket as they headed into the locker room with the 26-22 halftime advantage. The Scots were plagued by 15 first half turnovers but remained within striking distance.

The second half was 20 minutes of basketball by two teams that knew what was at stake. The Scots scratched and clawed while the Thunder was a resilient group that fought back every charge by the home team. Trine led 36-28 at the 15:20 mark and was able to extend that advantage to 49-35 with 7:27 remaining.

However, the Scots were not going away quietly. A lay-up by So. G Grace Wheeler (St. Ignace, Mich./LaSalle) cut Trine's lead to 53-48 with 3:20 left in the game and then Hicks cut it to five again at 57-52 at the 48 second mark. However, the Thunder were able to score the final bucket of the contest and come away with the 59-52 victory.

Wheeler paced the home team with 14 points and added five rebounds, while Jr. F Mary Schlicher (Lewiston, Mich./Johannesburg, Mich./Lewiston) had eight points, a team-high seven rebounds and three steals. Faller finished with eight points, including two three-pointers, and three assists and Hicks added four boards and three steals. Jr. F Bailey Gooding (Gaylord, Mich./Gaylord) contributed seven points and five rebounds.