Crestview, Hills, Ky. - The women's basketball program at Thomas More defeated the sixth ranked Fighting Saints of Carroll College by a score of 74-73. With the win the Saints improve to 4-1 on the season with two pivotal matchups in the Julie Costello Memorial Classic this weekend.
- Junior Courtney Hurst (Burlington, Ky./Conner) jump started the scoring for Thomas More with a three-pointer on their first possession of the game to make the score 3-0.
- Sophomore Kelly Brenner (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) would make two threes in a span of 90 seconds to give the Saints a commanding 13-4 lead with just over six minutes to go in the first.
- Junior Zoie Barth (Fort Thomas, Ky./Highlands) ended the quarter with the way it was started a three-pointer that would see the first quarter end in a 20-17 lead.
- The Saints were held scoreless for the first three minutes of the second quarter until graduate student Alexah Chrisman (Greendale, Ind./McAuley) made a post move that ended a 7-0 run by Carroll to cut the Fighting Saints lead to 24-22.
- Sophomore guard Rachel Martin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summitt Country Day) would help the Saints re-take the lead at the 5:37 mark of the second quarter as she drove past the defender and kissed the ball off the backboard to make the score 26-24 TMU.
- Barth would once again close out the scoring to end the quarter as the junior guard hit a jumpshot from the elbow to give Thomas More a 33-32 lead going into the lockerroom.
- Junior guard Emily Simon (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard) would spark the Saints offense in the third quarter as she made six of the first eight points in the quarter to give Thomas More a 41-35 lead heading into the under five media timeout.
- Chrisman would continue to be a pressence on the offensive end as the 6-2 forward pulled down a rebound and finished in close to keep the lead at six with 3:45 to go in the third.
- Junior forward Kenzie Schwarber (Alexandria, Ky./Campbell County) hit a long two at the end of the third off a feed from sophomore Maggie Jones (Piner, Ky./Simon Kenton) to make the score 49-43 after three.
- Senior guard Taylor Clos (Alexandria, Ky./Campbell County) got things started in the fourth with an and-one and then would make a jumper from the free throw line to give The Saints their biggest lead of the game at 11 with the score at 54-43.
- Barth would put a halt to Carroll's 6-0 run as she made a layup with 3:06 to go in regulation to make the score 58-55, in favor of Thomas More.
- Clos would make a clutch layup through traffic with 51 seconds to go to give the Saints a 60-58 lead before Carroll tied the game to send it to overtime.
- Barth made the first points of overtime sinking two free throws to give Thomas More a 62-60 lead.
- The Fighting Saints would take the lead at 69-66 before Simon made both of her free throws to cut the lead to 69-68.
- Simon and Clos would close out the game with four crucial free throws to give the Saints a 74-74 win.
- Barth and Simon led the team in scoring with 14 each as well as two steals each.
- Chrisman nearly posted a double-double with 12 points and eight boards.
- The Saints registered 10 steals in the game.
- Thomas More shot 45% from the field and 64.2% from the charity stripe.
The women's basketball team will return to the court on Friday, November 26, when they faceoff with the receiving votes Science & Arts of Oklahoma on day one of the Julie Costello Memorial Classic in the Connor Convocation Center at 7 p.m. ET.
