By Raymond G. Hebert, Ph.D.
Thomas More University
Sources for this article include: Statistics provided by Michael Pagano Co-Director of Sports Information, TMU Athletics, and print media as noted.
Four years in the NAIA, playing in the Mid-South Conference (MSC)—which was one of the toughest in the nation—resulted in three National Championship games for Thomas More, a truly remarkable feat for a team without a superstar as some of the earlier Thomas More teams had.
After the team’s 2023 loss to Clarke College of Dubuque, Iowa, Coach Jeff Hans was quoted as saying, despite the defeat, that “the Thomas More Saints players will have a lot of good memories from their three straight years in Sioux City, Iowa, playing for the national championship in women’s basketball” (Dan Weber, “In their 3rd straight NAIA championship basketball game, Thomas More Women come up short at the end,” NKyTribune, March 19, 2023). The Clarke Pride had made a 13-2 run to the finish, resulting in “a lot of tears” for the Saints and their fans. Upon reflection, as the team prepared to move on to NCAA II for 2023–2024, reaching the final game three years in a row was a remarkable feat.
Even in defeat, the Saints ended the season with a record of 31-4, after a virtually identical 32-4 in the National Championship year of 2021–2022 and a 29-2 record in 2020–2021 when they lost to Westmont College. The National Championship win was 77-65 against Dordt, also an Iowa college. The first year in NAIA, as a rebuilding year after the NCAA III National Championship year of 2018–2019, was 2019–2020 with a record of 23-10 and 9-7 in the MSC. It became an incentive for the years that would follow. Overall, the NAIA composite record was 115-20 with a 15-2 record in national tournament games.
Without National Player of the Year stars like Sydney Moss or Madison Temple, how did these teams pull off such a remarkable feat? First, they did it with a roster of local players who came together as a team not caring who would be the leading scorer or rebounder in any given game. They represented high schools including Highlands in Ft. Thomas, McAuley in Cincinnati, Scott in Taylor Mill, Campbell County, Summit Country Day in Cincinnati, and farthest away, Hilliard Davidson in Hilliard, Ohio. For example, in the push to the championship game in 2023, the game to the Sweet 16 showed only two in double figures, Alex Smith (15) and Summer Secrist (10). The move to the quarterfinals again showed two in double figures: Courtney Hurst with 18 and Taylor Clos at 17. The Elite 8 game had Alexah Chrisman with 12 and Summer Secrist with 11. Maggie Jones and Kelley Brenner had 8 points each in those two latter games and in the semifinals, it was Chrisman with 18, Brenner with 14, Clos with 14 and Simon with 9. In the final game loss, Barth had 16, Hurst 13 and Simon 11 and Brenner had 3 steals.
For this talented group of friends, they were playing for each other as a team and as representatives of the institution they loved. Over that crucial three-year period, the combined points per game averages for the five starters were 11.5 points per game, 10.4, 8.93, 7.65, and 6.2. Their ultimate successes were driven by team goals/results rather than specific individual goals/results.
In a Moreover article in 2022, then-senior Taylor Clos said it well “We had business that we wanted to finish and go out on. We had all the tools and knew we were capable of doing something special at the NAIA level that Thomas More hadn’t gotten to do before – it is really incredible. Then, with a third national championship game appearance one year later in our final NAIA year, a punctuation mark was added!” (Lyna Kelley, “Amazing Record-breaking Seasons for Saints Basketball,” Moreover, Spring 2022, pp. 34-35).
Also impressive, as pointed out in the same Moreover article, the TMU Men’s basketball team eliminated top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan 59-56 in the quarterfinals to advance to a Final Four game against Talladega. They battled back from a second-half deficit to force an overtime but were edged out in a “heartbreaking last-second loss” ending their season, but with much to celebrate: the best record in program history; MSC Regular season Champions for the first time in program history; the first Saints Men’s basketball team to be nationally ranked in the top five; five players MSC All-Conference; three earning MSC Academic All-Conference; junior Ryan Battle was MSC Player of the Year and an NAIA First Team All-American and made the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 and Top 50 watchlist; Luke Rudy broke the school record for 3-point shots; Reid Jolly and Garrett Rertsch surpassed the 1000 point career mark; and Head Coach Justin Ray and Assistant Head Coach Spencer Berlekamp were MSC Head Coach of the Year and Assistant Head Coach of the Year respectively.
Appropriately, as a wrap-up to that successful year, the Moreover author summarized the entire athletic program at Thomas More University by reminding us that:
“It challenges students to be the best they can be, instilling the passion and drive necessary for success. Saints student-athletes are outstanding representatives of the university on and off the court” (p.35).
There is no doubt that these driven student athletes are now primed to lead Thomas More University into the world of NCAA Division II Athletics.
Dr. Raymond G. Hebert is Professor of History and Executive Director of the William T. Robinson III Institute for Religious Liberty at Thomas More University. He is the leading author of Thomas More University at 100: Purpose, People, and Pathways to Student Success (2023). The book can be purchased by contacting the Thomas More University Bookstore at 859-344-3335. Dr. Hebert can be contacted at hebertr@thomasmore.edu.
Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Editor of the “Our Rich History” weekly series and Professor of History and Gender Studies at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). He also serves as Director of the ORVILLE Project (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Enrichment), as well as Editor of the forthcoming ORVIE (Ohio River Valley Innovation Encyclopedia), previewing in Summer 2024. ORVIE is now recruiting authors for entries on all aspects of innovation in the Ohio River Watershed including: Cincinnati (OH) and Northern Kentucky; Ashland, Lexington, Louisville, Maysville, Owensboro and Paducah (KY); Columbus, Dayton, Marietta, Portsmouth, and Steubenville (OH); Evansville, Madison and Indianapolis (IN), Pittsburgh (PA), Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg, and Wheeling (WV), Cairo (IL), and Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville (TN). If you would like to be involved in ORVILLE or ORVIE, please contact Paul Tenkotte at tenkottep@nku.edu.