By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Dropping 98 points on a good Concordia (Neb.) team in the second round of the NAIA Women’s Basketball Tournament is pretty much the way the Thomas More Saints wanted to go out in their final game at the Connor Convocation Center — especially the seniors.
But let that be a great memory for thee, not for me, Zoie Barth and Courtney Hurst said separately. Memories are for those looking backward. All the Saints can think now is how do they defend their NAIA championship at the Tyson Event Center, Sioux City, Iowa.
But some day, this will be fun to reminisce about. Just not now. For Hurst and Barth, who split eight three-pointers between them in a game where the Saints made 18 (out of 34, an incredible 52.9 percent), what Conner High alum Hurst, who scored 16 points, was looking for was “momentum.”
As for Barth, who hit for 17 points in the first half on the way to a game-high 22 in a 98-69 romp over the Bulldogs from Nebraska, it was proof that hard work matters.
“After we lost our last regular season game, we had a short time to fix it,” Barth said of the now 28-3 Saints. So they went to Coach Jeff Hans’ formula that has made him as good a small college basketball coach as there is in the country.
Hard work.
“I like where we’re at,” Hans said. “They know what’s at stake. When you have four seniors, I don’t know if I have to say a lot.”
But Hans did this one thing for the Saints to take with them on the 12-hour bus ride to Sioux City. “This team hasn’t won a thing.”
But now, after a postseason week of tough practices and back-to-back big wins, Barth says it’s starting to remind her of last season when the Saints hit their stride on the way to an NAIA title.
“It’s March, you have to live in the moment,” said Barth, the Highlands High grad whose next moment will have her heading to the UK Medical School on the NKU campus with thoughts of becoming a pediatric surgeon. “Anything can happen and everybody is going to give us their best shot.”
Compared to where TMU was when Barth came here four years ago and they were taking their lumps in the NAIA, it’s Thomas More that’s the big dog now. “I think that means a lot,” Barth said of how the rest of the NAIA nation looks at the Saints.
“Coach Hans has set the precedent here,” Barth said of the three-time national champ (twice in the NCAA Division III). “He’s a winner.”
He certainly enjoyed how this getaway game went. “What a game, action-packed, the fans got their $10 worth,” Hans said. And the spark came from a place that made him pleased at the game-prep work.
“When Rylee (Turner) hit that first three,” he said of the freshman from Newport Central Catholic who is mostly along to rebound, play defense and pass the ball, Hans knew. The Saints were “ready to handle their pressure.” And even more, to “take advantage of it.”
Hence the 18 threes. “We knew those shots were going to be open,” Hurst said. All they had to do was beat the traps and get the ball to the right place. Which they did.
“They average 19 turnovers (for opponents),” Hans said, “what’d we turn it over? Fourteen times.” Yep, turn those extra possessions into three-pointers and you have TMU’s 18-7 edge in three-pointers. Do the math. That’s a 54-21 edge right there.
A 10-2 early run in the second period and then a 10-0 run before halftime including a final trick shot from a position lying on the floor by 5-foot-4 Rachel Martin at the buzzer left the Saints up 48-30 at intermission.
And Barth’s early 17 points were the difference. “I wanted to leave it all out there,” as she said goodbye to the Connor Center.
“We’ve talked about it a lot,” Hans said of his seniors’ contribution. “They’re the rock of our foundation.”
The Saints’ sixth-man, senior Alex Smith, back after more than a month out with a leg injury, proved again her value with 13 points including three threes. Freshman Turner scored 14 points while junior guard Rachel Martin scored 12 and senior Emily Simon just missed giving TMU six double-figure scorers with nine points. Even senior Sammi Whiteman, who averages just 9.4 minutes a game, got in to score the final two points.
TMU also knocked down 16 of 17 free throws (94.1 percent).
And now, on to Iowa with a trip this weekend that will be broken into two days with a practice at the end of the first day. “Maybe in Iowa City,” Hans said.
Then it’s back to basketball with the Saints scheduled to play in the round of 16 Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET against Mid-South Conference member Cumberlands (Ky.), a 75-67 winner over John Brown (Ark.).
“That’ll make scouting easier,” Hans said of a team TMU beat twice, 94-74 in November, 83-64 in January. Both teams have changed a great deal since then, Hans said.
BOX SCORE
CONCORDIA (NEB) 15 15 23 16–69
THOMAS MORE 20 28-25 25–98
CONCORDIA (NEB) (20-12): Toomey 11, Rushton 14, Heemstra 6, Krieser 7, Powell 11, Farrell 0, Koepke 5, Shepherd 0, Brigham 9, Vieselmeyer 6, TOTAL: 69.
THOMAS MORE (28-3): Turner 14, Hurst 16, Barth 22, Simon 9, Martin 12, Smith 13, Brenner 5, Noel 0, Jones 5, Vickers 0, Morgan 0, Hunt 0, Whiteman 2, TOTAL: 98.