The Thomas More women are the new No. 1 team in NCAA Division III, according to the most recent D3hoops.com Top-25 poll.
The Saints are currently 21-0 overall and 14-0 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC). They received 619 points and 19 of the 25 first-place votes in the poll. St. Thomas is No. 2, followed by George Fox at No. 3, FDU-Florham at No. 4 and Tufts at No. 5.
This is the third time in program history that Thomas More has been ranked No. 1 as the Saints were the top-ranked team in the nation during the second half of the 2010-11 season and during the NCAA Tournament last season.
Thomas More has won 67-straight regular-season games dating back to an overtime loss against Calvin College on November 23, 2012. The Saints’ last conference loss was a 68-65 setback at Saint Vincent College on January 14, 2012, as span of 60 league games. Since joining the PAC in 2005 (10 seasons), the Saints have put together a conference regular-season record of 143-7 (.953).
The Saints have a plus 36.9 scoring margin, averaging 86.2 points per game while holding their opponents to 49.3 points. The team has reached the century mark in scoring four times this season. Thomas More has a plus 13.6 turnover margin and a plus 12.3 rebounding margin as it also shoots 45 percent from the field.
Junior guard/forward Sydney Moss (St. Albans, W.Va./Boone County (Ky.) leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists as she averages 20.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while dishing out 76 assists. Two other Saints average double-figure scoring as freshman forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) averages 11.9 points per game to go with a team-high 21 blocks and freshman guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) averages 10.4 points per game to go with a team-high 50 steals.
Moss was also named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week by the conference office.
She averaged 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 65.5 percent (19-of-29) from the floor to lead the second-ranked Saints to a pair of league road wins last week, averaging just 18.5 minutes of action in each contest. She had 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and one steal in 19 minutes against Bethany College, then followed that by totaling 28 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 18 minutes in the win at Thiel College.
Moss currently leads the PAC in scoring (20.8 points/game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8), ranks fourth in assists per game (3.6) and ninth in rebounds per game (6.7).
The Saints return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 11, when they travel to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania to play Geneva College at 5:30 p.m.
From TMC Athletics