(PORTSMOUTH, Ohio.)- The #1 ranked Thomas More Women's Basketball team defeated Shawnee State by a score of 77 to 63. The victory moves Thomas More to an overall record of 12-0 and a Mid-South conference record of 7-0. Senior
Courtney Hurst made a three-pointer mid-way through the second quarter. This gave her the career record for most made 3-pointers made in a Thomas More uniform.
- Senior Zoie Barth (Fort Thomas, Ky. / Highlands) got the Saints started with a three-pointer off an assist from senior Courtney Hurst (Burlington, Ky. / Conner) to give the Saints the early 3-0 lead.
- Courtney Hurst follows with a three-pointer off an assist from first-year Rylee Turner (Newport, Ky. / Newport Central Catholic). This gives the Saints. 6-0 lead. The three also tied Courtney Hurst for the career record for made 3-pointers.
- A layup from senior Emily Simon (Hilliard, Ohio / Hilliard Davidson) and then an "And-1" from Zoie Barth pushed the Thomas More lead to 11-0 to open the game.
- Zoie Barth makes another layup to push the lead back to 11.
- Shawnee State closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter 13-10 Saints.
- To open the second quarter, junior Alex Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio / Mercy McAuley) hits a three pointer off an assist from junior Maggie Jones (Piner, Ky. / Simon Kenton) giving Thomas More a 16-10 lead.
- Junior Sammi Whiteman (Covington, Ohio / Covington) makes a layup off another Jones assist to push the lead to 8.
- Sammi Whiteman makes another layup to give Thomas More a 22-12 lead.
- After two Emily Simon layups, Courtney Hurst makes the record-breaking 3-pointer off an assist from Rylee Turner to give Thomas More the 29 to 16 lead.
- Emily Simon made another layup and it was again followed by another Courtney Hurst three-pointer to make the score 34-22.
- Rylee Turner and Maggie Jones both made shots to close out the half as Thomas More led at the break by a score of 38-31.
- Courtney Hurst had 9 points off of three 3-point shots.
- Emily Simon had 8 points.
- Junior Rachel Martin (Cincinnati, Ohio / Summit Country Day) got Thomas More started in the second half with a made basket off an Emily Simon assist.
- Alex Smith pushed the lead to 9 with a made basket with 8 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter.
- Alex Smith scored again to push the score to 44-35 Thomas More.
- From there the Saints went on a 10-0 scoring run. Zoie Barth hit a three-pointer, Alex Smith had two layups and Emily Simon capped it off with an and 1 to make the score 52-35.
- After getting it back to a 10-point game, Zoie Barth ended the Bears scoring run with a layup.
- Alex Smith ended the quarter with 7 straight Saint's points including a three-pointer. The score at the end of the third was 61-50 Thomas More.
- After a pair of Alex Smith free throws, junior Kelly Brenner (Cincinnati, Ohio / Roger Bacon) makes a layup off an assist from Zoie Barth to give the Saints a 65-53 lead.
- Shawnee State was able to cut the lead to 7, right before Zoie Barth makes a layup and a three-pointer to push the lead back to 12.
- Zoie Barth made the final four free throws for the Saints giving them the final score of 77-63.
- Thomas More won 77-63.
- Thomas More shot 28-66 (42.4%) from the field.
- Thomas More shot 8 for 22 (36.4%) from beyond the 3-point line.
- Thomas More was 13 for 17 (76.5%) from the free throw line.
- Zoie Barth led the Saints with 22 points, along with 3 rebounds and 3 made three pointer.
- Alex Smith had 20 points and 4 rebounds.
- Courtney Hurst had 11 points to go with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
- Emily Simon had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
- Rylee Turner recorded 9 rebounds.
The Saints return to action on Thursday night (December 15th) in Henderson, Tennessee as they travel to face Freed-Hardeman at 6:30 pm ET for Mid-South Conference play.
