(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – The No. 1-ranked Thomas More College women's basketball team advanced to its second-straight NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Game as it defeated No. 4-ranked Amherst College, 74-65, on Saturday (March 19, 2016) in a national semifinal game at The Capital Center on the campus of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
With the win, the Saints improve to 32-0 and will play No. 7-ranked Tufts University in the title game on Monday, April 4 at 6 p.m. inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Division III national championship game is being played as a part of a larger 35th anniversary NCAA women's basketball championship celebration. It will be the first time in the history of NCAA women's basketball that all three divisional championships will be decided in the same city and venue. With the loss, the Lord Jeffs end the season at 30-2.
Thomas More jumped out to a 4-0 lead when senior guard/forward Sydney Moss (St. Albans, W.Va./Boone County (Ky.)) made a jumper with 8:06 to play in the first quarter. Amherst answered with a 10-4 run capped by an Ali Doswell lay-up with 3:49 to play in the opening quarter. The Saints closed out the quarter on a 4-2 run as sophomore guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) made a lay-up with 45-seconds to play in the first quarter to tie the game at 12-12 after one quarter.
The Saints out-scored Amherst 15-8 in the second quarter to build a 27-20 lead at halftime.
Amherst opened the third quarter on a 14-5 run to take a 34-32 lead when Jaimie Renner made a lay-up with 4:45 to play in the quarter. Undaunted, the Saints responded with a 15-6 run capped by two Moss free-throws with 45-seconds to play in the third quarter to take a 47-40 lead. Amherst scored the final four points of the quarter to cut the lead to 47-44 after three quarters.
Thomas More came out of the quarter break and put together a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 54-44 when Moss made three free-throws with 8:40 to play in the game. Amherst answered with a 12-8 run to cut the lead to 62-56 with 4:46 to play in the game when Meredith Doswell made a lay-up. The Saints responded with an 11-5 run to increase the lead to 73-61 when Owings made two free-throws with 29-seconds to play in the game. Amherst closed the game on a 4-1, but it wasn't enough as Thomas More won the game 74-65 and advanced to the championship game.
Moss recorded a double-double as she scored a game-high 39 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. She was joined in double-figure scoring by sophomore forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) with 13 points, while Owings and freshman guard Madison Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) just missed double-figures with nine points each. Temple pulled down eight rebounds, while Kiernan had seven boards. Temple led the team in assists.
