SALEM, Va. — Having already announced it will join the NAIA next season, Thomas More University found a perfect way to say farewell to the NCAA on Saturday night — with a national championship by its unbeaten women’s basketball team.
Thomas More completed its perfect season (33-0) with an 81-67 win over Bowdoin College to capture the NCAA Division III national championship. Five players scored in double figures for the top-ranked Saints, who hoisted the national championship trophy for the third time in the past five years.
The Saints won back-to-back NCAA Division III national championships in 2015 and ’16, though the NCAA later forced Thomas More to vacate the ’15 title for using an ineligible player. A year ago, Thomas More advanced to the national semifinals before losing to Amherst (Mass.) in the NCAA Division III Final Four.
Thomas More built a 38-34 halftime lead as Rupp scored 13 points and Saner added 11. Bowdoin held Thomas More All-American guard Madison Temple to just 3-for-9 shooting and six points during the opening 20 minutes.
Leading 40-36 in the third quarter, Thomas More ran off nine consecutive points to build a 49-36 advantage. Bowdoin cut the deficit to five points twice late in the quarter, but the Saints responded with a 10-0 spurt in the final stanza that extended a 64-56 lead into a 74-56 cushion.
Temple scored 11 in the second half and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. A graduate of Anderson High School in Cincinnati, Temple ended her career as Thomas More’s all-time scoring leader with 2,181 points. Emily Schultz added 14 points and Briana McNutt chipped in 11 points.
Abby Kelly netted a game-high 27 points for second-ranked Bowdoin (31-2), which shot 42.6 percent from the field.
Thomas More becomes a member of the NAIA’s Mid-South Conference in 2019-20. During the past five seasons, Thomas More posted a 157-3 record on the court. The Saints compiled records of 33-0 (later vacated by the NCAA), 33-0, 28-1, 30-2 and this season’s 33-0 slate.
Head coach Jeff Hans is now 207-11 in eight seasons at Thomas More. Hans was named Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year earlier this week.
(Information compiled from Thomas More and staff reports)