St. Ambrose didn't get off to the start it wanted to Wednesday night at Trinity Christian. But the Bees made up for it in the second quarter in an 81-60 conference victory.

SAU, now 9-11 overall and 7-6 in CCAC play, was outscored 19-12 in the opening period. The deficit was 11 points with a minute left in the quarter before layups from Madeline Prestegaard and Jaynee Prestegaard cut the margin to seven entering the second.

Madeline Prestegaard had back-to-back layups to open the second quarter and the Bees were off and running. Down 26-25 midway through the frame, St. Ambrose closed the half with 12 straight points to take a 37-26 lead at the break. Madeline Prestegaard and Kylie Wroblewski each had four points during the run.

In the second quarter, SAU shot 12-of-18 from the floor while limiting Trinity Christian (4-17, 2-11 CCAC) to just 3-of-10 shooting. The Bees also outrebounded the Trolls 10-4 and forced 10 turnovers in the quarter.

Jamie Martens opened the second half with two free throws to extend the lead to 39-26 and TCC never seriously threatened again. The Trolls got as close as nine points, the last time coming at 60-51 early in the fourth quarter, but four points from Wroblewski and two each from Jaynee Prestegaard, Martens and Gabrielle Koelker pushed the lead to 70-51 with six minutes left.

SAU shot better than 57 percent from the floor for the game after shooting at nearly a 59-percent clip in the second half. Wroblewski (18 points, 8-of-10 shooting), Madeline Prestegaard (17 points, 8-of-12 shooting) and Jaynee Prestegaard (14 points, 7-of-8 shooting) dominated inside, combining for 49 points on 23-of-30 shooting.

Jaynee Prestegaard also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, leading the Bees to a 39-26 edge on the boards.

Martens scored nine points while leading all players with seven assists. Koelker and Maddy Cash each scored six points.

St. Ambrose will play its second of three straight road games at Trinity International Saturday afternoon.