The top-ranked and top-seeded Thomas More College women’s basketball team won its ninth-straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Saturday, defeating second-seeded Saint Vincent College 75-65 in the title game of the PAC Championship Tournament at the Connor Convocation Center.
With the win, the Saints improve to 27-0 and earn the PAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament for a seventh-straight season. The NCAA Division III Championship brackets will be announced on Monday on the NCAA Championship Website (www.ncaa.com) at 2:30 p.m.
With the loss, the Bearcats fall to 22-5 and must wait until Monday to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Sydney Moss (St. Albans, W.Va./Boone County) led all scorers with 28 points, while Kiernan added 17 points and freshman guard Abby Ownings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) finished with eight points. Moss and junior forward Sam Cady (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) led the team on the boards with eight rebounds each, while senior guard Sydni Wainscott (Erlanger, Ky./Simon Kenton) led the team in assists with six. Kiernan led the team in blocks with four.
Saint Vincent jumped out to a 14-7 lead when Shalia Williams lay-up with 14:55 to play in the first half. Thomas More answered with a 22-2 run to build a 29-16 lead with 5:41 to play in the opening half when Moss made a three-pointer. The Bearcats used a 13-9 run capped by a Jill Kegg lay-up to cut the lead to 38-29 with 41-seconds to play in the first half. Senior guard Stephanie Krusling (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) made two free-throws with 10-seconds to play in the half to give the Saints a 40-29 lead at halftime.
Thomas More opened the second half on a 13-7 run to extended the lead to 53-36 with 13:29 to play in the game when freshman forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) made a lay-up with 13:29 to play in the game.
Moss named Presidents’ Conference MVP
Junior guard/forward Sydney Moss was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and three Saints were named All-PAC between last night’s two PAC Championship Tournament semifinal games.
Moss, who was also a first team All-PAC selection, is repeat Player of the Year winner as she also earned the honor last season. This season, Moss leads the PAC and ranks fifth among all NCAA Division III counterparts in scoring average (22.0 points per game) and is first in the league, and fourth Division III, in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9).
She also ranks fourth in field goal percentage (52.0%, 217-of-417) and assists per game (3.8), fifth in three-point field goals made (41) and is seventh among conference leaders in three-point field goal percentage (37.3%, 41-of-110), eighth free throw percentage (73.1%, 98-of-134) and ninth in rebounds per game (6.7).
Joining Moss on the first team was freshman guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton), was the lone freshman to be named first team All-PAC. She is third on the team in scoring (10.7 points per game) and assists (62). Owings leads the team in steals with 62 and is shooting 43.3 percent from the field (97-of-224).
Senior guard Sydni Wainscott (Erlanger, Ky./Simon Kenton) was named second team All-PAC. She is second on the team in assists with 98, while averaging 8.0 points per game and recording 56 steals. Wainscott is shooting 41.5 percent from the field (66-of-159).
Text and photo from TMC Athletics