By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Thomas More women’s basketball team came close to setting a record in the first round of the NAIA national tournament on Thursday when the Saints defeated Bryan College of Tennessee, 95-62, at Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Saints (29-5) made 16 3-point field goals, one shy of the tournament record, in the victory that moves them into the quarterfinals. They will play Rocky Mountain College of Montana (29-4) at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
In the final NAIA women’s national rankings, Thomas More was No. 3 and Rocky Mountain was No. 10.
During the regular season, Thomas More made 18 treys in one game and 17 in two others, so their long-range barrage against Bryan wasn’t too surprising. They came into the national tournament averaging 9.3 threes per game and shooting 34.9 percent (313 of 891) from behind the arc.
The Saints shot 40 percent (16 of 40) from 3-point range compared to Bryan’s 30 percent (6 of 20) for a 30-point differential. The TMU team leaders were senior guard Taylor Clos with five treys and junior guard Courtney Hurst with four.
Hurst finished with 18 points, followed by Clos with 17. Those two players combined were 9 of 18 from 3-point range and 13 of 24 from the field overall.
The first quarter ended in a 15-15 tie with TMU getting most of its points on four 3-point goals. Sophomore guard Alex Smith opened the second quarter with the team’s fifth trey to spark a 33-12 run that put the Saints ahead, 48-27, at halftime.
Clos buried three consecutive treys to account for nine of the final 11 points in that run. At the break, TMU had a 24-9 scoring advantage from behind the 3-point line.
The Saints continued their long-range scoring in the third quarter, hitting five more treys that helped push their lead to 74-43 going into the final quarter. They needed four more to tie the tournament record for most 3-point goals in a game, but they went 3 for 7 from behind the arc in the final period that ended with reserve players on the court.
Bryan’s leading scorer was Gracee Dishman with 24 points. Thomas More forward Alexah Chrisman had a game-high 10 rebounds, seven points and three blocked shots. Hurst also had four rebounds, three assists and four steals for the Saints.
This is Thomas More’s 10th appearance in a national tournament under coach Jeff Hans, who has a 290-27 record in 12 seasons with the program. Two of his teams won NCAA Division III national titles in 2016 and 2019 and last year’s team was NAIA national runner-up.
Thomas More and Indiana Wesleyan are the only two schools that have teams in both the men’s and women’s NAIA national tournaments this week.
The TMU men (29-5) will take on Southwestern Assemblies of God University of Texas (24-8) in a first-round game at 3 p.m. Friday in Kansas City. In the final NAIA men’s rankings, TMU was No. 5 and SAGU was No. 24.