The No. 2/4-ranked and top-seeded Thomas More College women’s basketball team defeated fourth-seeded Waynesburg University, 71-43, Friday in the semifinals of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
With the win, the Saints improve to 26-0 and advance to play No. 3-seeded Saint Vincent College Saturday at 4 p.m. in the championship game of the PAC Tournament. With the loss, the Yellow Jackets fall to 16-11.
Thomas More led 6-3 with 4:22 to play in the first quarter and then out-scored Waynesburg, 34-8 over the next 14 minutes to build a 40-11 lead at halftime. Waynesburg out-scored Thomas More 14-11 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 51-25 at halftime. The Saints used a 20-18 advantage in the fourth quarter for the final score of 71-43.
The Saints out-scored the Yellow Jackets 40-24 in the paint, 11-5 off turnovers, 23-12 on second chance points and 10-2 on fast break points.
Sophomore guard Madison Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) led the Saints with 16 points. She was joined in double-figures by junior forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) with 14 points and first-year forward Emily Schultz (Melbourne, Ky./Bishop Brossart) with 10 points. Kiernan and sophomore forward Shelby Rupp (Milan, Ind./Batesville) with eight rebounds each. Temple led the team in assists with five.
Owings named PAC Player of the Year
Thomas More College junior guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) has been named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Player of the Year and two other Saints were named All-PAC Friday by the conference’s 10 head coaches.
Owings was also named first team All-PAC for the third-straight season. She is the second-straight and fifth overall Thomas More women’s basketball student-athlete to be named Player of the Year. Owings, who scored her 1,000th career point in December, leads the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game and pulls down 2.8 rebounds per game. She leads the team in steals with 63 and third on the team in assists with 88.
Joining Owings as first team All-PAC selections is sophomore guard Madison Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) and junior forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic). Temple, last year’s PAC Freshman of the Year, leads the team in in assists with 127 and second in scoring with 15.9 points per game, rebounds with 5.6 points per game and steals with 50.
She shoots 58.8 percent (157-of-267) from the floor, including 44.8 percent (43-of-96) from behind the three-point arc. Kiernan, a two-time All-PAC selection, leads the team on the boards with 8.0 rebounds per game and in blocked shots with 69. She is third on the team in scoring with 15.0 points per game, while dishing out 27 assists and recording 34 steals.
From TMC Athletics