By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Thomas More’s women got back on the right side of the ledger with a homecourt 73-47 NAIA Tournament first-round win over Point University (Ga.) Tuesday at the Connor Convocation Center.
The victory moves the 27-3 Saints into tonight’s second-round game against No. 8 seed Concordia, a 77-50 winner over No. 9 seed Columbia College in Tuesday’s second game. Tipoff Wednesday is at 6 p.m. The winner will head to the NAIA finals next week at Sioux City, Iowa, where the defending champion Saints won their NAIA title a year ago.
“I think we were better,” TMU Coach Jeff Hans said after the Saints’ disappointing finish in which they dropped their final two games – one in the regular season, one in the Mid-South Conference Tournament.
“We played harder, played with some urgency,” Hans said. “I thought our seniors did a pretty good job,” he said of Zoie Barth and Alex Smith, who was back after being out a month with a leg injury.
“Getting Alex back out there and getting her legs under her was big,” Hans said. “After a long layoff, we had a good start. And I thought we got a lot of energy from our crowd.”
Off the bench, Smith scored a team-high 13 points in just 17 minutes. Also in double figures were Courtney Hurst, with 12 points, and Barth and Emily Simon, with 10 points each. Barth also had seven rebounds and four assists. Rachel Martin scored nine points while freshman Rylee Turner scored six.
“Tournament time is the best time of the year,” Barth said. “I’m just trying to enjoy it.”
Of the disappointing MSC finish, “We roll with the punches and adjust to it,” Barth said.
TMU jumped out 41-22 by halftime after calming down early and wasn’t pressed the rest of the way as Point finished 23-9 on the season.
“I think it was important for us to earn a host spot and play at home,” Hans said of the postseason start for his once No. 1 ranked team now No. 3. “You get seeded and you get to play at home.”
As to where TMU had improved since season’s end, Hans was clear. “Defense and rebounding,” Hans said. “We didn’t give up 81 points,” as NKU did in its MSC tournament loss to Shawnee State.
On offense, TMU hit on 42.4 percent (28 of 66) of its field goal attempts, 35.7 (10 of 28) from three-point distance and 70 percent (seven of 10) from the line.
BOX SCORE
POINT UNIVERSITY 13 9 16 9—47
THOMAS MORE 21 20 20 12–73
POINT UNIVERSITY (23-9): Cannon 11, Boyd 11, Worriels 11, Gimenez 2, Griggs 2, Owens 6, Hart 2, Hughley 2, Cooke 0, Nnadi 0, TOTAL: 47.
THOMAS MORE (27-3): Hurst 12, Barth 10, Simon 10, Martin 9, Turner 6, Smith 13, Whiteman 6, Vickers 4, Brenner 3, Jones 0, Noel 0, Hunt 0, Morgan 0, Lillard 0, Elswick 0, TOTAL: 73.