High Powered Offense Drives #1 Women's Basketball Past Tennessee Southern

(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.)- The #1 ranked Thomas More Women's Basketball team defeated Tennessee Southern by a score of 87 to 48. The victory moves Thomas More to an overall record of 9-0 and a Mid South conference record of 4-0.

• First year Rylee Turner (Newport, Ky. / Newport Central Catholic) got the Saints on the board first with a layup on the opening possession. 
• Senior transfer Emily Simon (Hilliard, Ohio / Hilliard Davidson) followed that up with a three pointer off a senior Zoie Barth (Fort Thomas, Ky. / Highlands) assist.
• Midway through the first quarter, senior Courtney Hurst (Burlington, Ky. / Conner) makes a layup off a Zoie Barth assist to put the Saints up 11-4.
• After the Firehawks made it a 6 point game with 1:50 to go in the first, junior Maggie Jones (Piner, Ky. / Simon Kenton) hits back to back threes off assists from Emily Simon and junior Kelly Brenner (Cincinnati, Ohio / Roger Bacon).
• After a Courtney Hurst layup, the Saints lead after the first quarter was 23-9.
• After a slow start to the second quarter, junior Rachel Martin (Cincinnat, Ohio / Summit Country Day) makes a layup on a fast break off an assist from junior Alex Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio / Mercy McAuley). 
• Alex Smith goes on to score five straight Saint points after a three pointer off an assist from Emily Simon. This pushed the Saints lead to 21.
• Maggie Jones continued her hot hand with another three pointer off an Emily Simon assist to make it 39-15.
• Junior Sammi Whiteman (Covington, Ohio / Covington) makes a jumper, and Alex Smith follows with back to back three pointers to push the Thomas More lead to 32.
• At the half the Saints led 52 to 15.
• Alex Smith led all scores with 13, along with 4 rebounds.
• Maggie Jones had 11 points with three 3-pointers.
• Emily Simon had 7 points and 4 assists.
• The Saints made 7 of 15 three pointers and were 17 for 35 from the field.

• The Saints picked up right where they left off in the first half with Zoie Barth and Courtney Hurst each making shots to push the Saint lead to 39.
• Zoie Barth scored the next four Saint points to make the score 60 to 20.
• Emily Simon scored 6 straight Thomas More points and it was followed by a Barth jumper to make the score 70 to 24.
• Alex Smith hit another three pointer off a Maggie Jones assist to make it 73-28.
• Sammi Whiteman makes a jump shot off an assist from junior Mattison Vickers (Covington, Ky. / Simon Kenton) to push the margin to 45.
• Sammi Whiteman scores again to close out the third quarter and opened the fourth with another bucket to make the score 79-33.
• First year Natalie Noel (Salem, Ind. / Salem) makes a three pointer off a Sammi Whiteman assist with 2:35 to go in the game.
• Mattison VIckers also makes a three pointer off an assist from Natalie Noel to make the score 87 to 46.
• The final score was Thomas More 87, UT Southern 48.
• Thomas More shot 32 for 66 from the field, and 10 for 29 from beyond the three point line.

• Alex Smith led the Saints with 16 points, going 4 for 4 from three point land.
• Maggie Jones scored 11 points, with three 3-pointers.
• Emily Simon scored 13 points, along with 2 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Courtney Hurst led the Saints with 5 rebounds and also scored 8 points.
• Sammi Whiteman scored 12 which is a career high. She also had 4 rebounds.

The Saints return to action on Saturday afternoon (December 3) in the Connor Convocation Center against Cumberland (Tenn.)  at 1:00 pm ET for Mid-South Conference play.