By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Thomas More University will have two teams heading west next week to compete in NAIA national basketball tournaments after winning opening round brackets played at Connor Convocation Center over the weekend.
In the bracket finals on Saturday, the TMC women defeated Grand View (Iowa), 86-62, and the TMC men defeated Stillman (Iowa), 80-67, to advance to the 16-team national tournaments that get under way Thursday and Friday.
In the opening round of the women’s tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, TMU will play Bryan College of Tennessee at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Saints (28-4) were No. 3 and Bryan (32-1) was No. 9 in the final women’s NAIA national rankings.
The TMC men (29-5) will be in Kansas City, Mo., on Friday to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God University of Texas (24-8) in a 3 p.m. first-round game. In the final NAIA men’s rankings, TMU was No. 5 and SAGU was No. 24.
In the Thomas More women’s game on Saturday, the Saints finished the first half with a 41-26 lead over Grand View and secured the victory with a 31-18 scoring run in the third quarter. The leading scorers for TMU were junior Zoie Barth and sophomore Alex Smith with 15 points each.
The Saints shot 52 percent (34 of 65) from the field with 10 3-pointers. Grand View shot 31 percent (17 of 54) with 13 treys.
The Thomas More men had a slim 65-63 lead with 3:30 remaining in their playoff game with Stillman on Saturday and closed it out with a 15-4 run to claim their ninth win in the last 10 games. The Saints’ leading scorers were sophomore Reid Jolly and junior Ryan Batte with 20 points each. Batte also had 10 rebounds.
Five Thomas More players scored during the team’s game-winning final run. Jolly and Garren Bertsch had four points each and Luke Rudy hit his fourth 3-pointer to lead the charge.