Saints Top Saginaw Valley by Eleven

(CRESTVIEW HILLS, KY)-Thomas More University women's basketball team defeated Saginaw Valley State University on Friday evening (Dec 15), 65-54. The Saints overall record improves to 6-4 on the season. 

• Senior Kelly Brenner (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) made a 3-point shot to open up the game for Thomas Moree off an assist from senior Alex Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mercy McAuley), (3-0).
• Senior Maggie Jones (Piner, Ky./Simon Kenton) makes a layup followed by an Alex Smith 3-pointer to push the Saint lead to 8 midway thru the quarter, (10-2).
• Senior Rachel Martin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) and Maggie Jones each make jumpers to put Thomas More ahead by 10 with 3:27 to go in the quarter (14-4).
• Alex Smith knocks down a three pointer of an assist from Kelly Brenner to halt a Saginaw run (19-10).
• After the first quarter, Thomas More had a 21-16 lead.
• Alex Smith opened the scoring for Thomas More in the second quarter with a three point shot again off an assist from Kelly Brenner (24-19).
• First year Rylee Leonard (Sardinia, Ohio/ Eastern Brown) got fouled and made the layup, and converted on the 3-point play to put the Saints up nine with 2:48 to go in the half (28-19).
• Rylee Leonard makes another layup in the closing minute as the Saints took a halftime lead (31-23).
• Alex Smith led all scores with 9 points in the half on 3-4 shooting beyond the 3-point line.
• Kelly Brenner recorded 7 points and a team high 3 assists.
• Sophomore Rylee Turner (Newport, KY / Newport Central Catholic) led the Saints with 4 rebounds.
• Thomas More shot 10-16 (62.5%) from the field and 4-5 (80%) from deep in the half.

• Rylee Turner made the first basket for the Saints in the second half on a fastbreak, followed by a senior Rachel Martin (Cincinnati, OH / Summit Country Day) layup to push the lead to 13, (36-23).
• Kelly Brenner ends a Saginaw scoring run with a triple off an assist from Rachel Martin (41-31).
• With 1:14 to go in the quarter, Kelly Brenner hits another 3-point shot off an assist from Rylee Leonard to give the Saints a six point lead (48-42).
• Rylee Leonard opened the final quarter with a three point shot off a Rachel Martin Assist for the Saints (51-45).
• Leonard hits her second three of the quarter at the 5:19 mark off an Alex Smith assist to make it a 12 point game (57-45).
• Alex Smith makes back to back buckets for the Saints to keep the Saint lead at double digits (61-50).
• With 2:02 to go, Rylee Leonard makes a layup to make it a 13 point lead for Thomas More (63-50).
• Thomas More goes on to win 65-54.
• Saints shot 11-24 (45.8%) from the field, and 4-11 (36.3%) from deep in the half.

• Alex Smith led all scores in the game with 18 points. She also recorded 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
• Kelly Brenner recorded 14 points and 3 assists in the game. 
• Rylee Leonard tallied 13 points in the ball game on 5-8 shooting.
• Rylee Turner recorded a team high 8 rebounds in the contest.
• Thomas More went 8-16 (50%) from the 3-point line and 21-40 (52.5%) from the field.

The Saints return to action Sunday (Dec 17) when they travel to Hammond, IN to face off against Purdue Univeristy Northwest. That game is scheduled to tipp-off at 2:00 PM.