Women's Basketball Falls in Overtime to Open the Season

(Wisconsin Dells, WI)- Thomas More University women's basketball open the 2024-25 season on Friday night (November, 8th) when they took on Northern Michigan University in the JustAGame Crossover Tournament. The Saints fell to Northern Michigan by a score of 48 to 46 in Overtime. Thomas More moved to 0-1 on the season.

• Sophomore Morgan Hunt (Hollansburg, OH / Tri-Village) knocked down a three pointer off an assist from junior Alaina Keeney (Wheelersburg, OH / Wheelersburg) for the first points of the season and making the score 5 to 3 in favor of NMU.
• On the next possession, first year Anna Drakeford (Harrodsburg, KY / Mercer County) makes a driving layup for her first collegiate points and tying the game up at 5.
• With 5:25 to go in the opening quarter, junior Rylee Turner (Newport, KY / Newport Central Catholic) drills a triple off an assist from first year Kendall Sterling (Seymour, IN / Seymour) to give Thomas More their first lead of the day and capping an 8-0 run for the Saints.
• Sophomore Desiree Tandy (Danville, KY / Danville) pushed the Saint lead to four off an assist from Anna Drakeford with 3:52 to go in the quarter.
• Thomas More trailed after the first quarter by a score of 13 to 10.
• Junior transfer Sereniti Webb (Covington, KY / Simon Kenton) scored her first points as a Saint (Drakeford Assist) to stop a Wildcat run with 4:19 to go in the half.
• With 0:35 to go in the half sophomore guard Laney Baker (West Harrison, OH / East Central) made a layup to send the Saints to halftime down 8 by a score of 24 to 16.
• Thomas More shot 7 for 31 from the field in the opening half, and 2 for 8 from beyond the three point line.

• Alaina Keeney got the Saints started in the second half with a layup to make the score 24 to 18 in favor of NMU.
• Senior forward Callie Hunt (Trenton, OH / Edgewood) made her first triple of the season off an assist from Rylee Turner to make it an 8 point game.
• Laney Baker sparks a Saint run at the 2:01 mark with a fast break bucket, followed by a three pointer off an assist from Anna Drakeford. Rylee Turner caps off the Saint run with a layup to send us to the final quarter with the score 30 to 28 Northern Michigan.
• Rylee Turner scored the first points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 30 with 7:49 to go.
• Kendall Sterling knocks down a three pointer for her first collegiate points to push Thomas More out in front 33 to 30.
• After a Northern Michigan run to regain the lead, Alaina Keeney hits a three-pointer off an assist from Laney Baker to give the Saints a 38 to 36 lead with 2:42 to go.
• Morgan Hunt makes a layup with 1:09 to go to push the Thomas More lead back to 3.
• Following an NMU triple, Sereniti Webb got fouled and makes both free throws to give Thomas More a 42 to 40 lead with 26 seconds to go.
• Northern Michigan forces overtime with the scored tied at 42.

• Morgan Hunt tallied the first TMU points in the extra period to make the score 46 to 44 Northern Michigan with 4:17 to go.
• Morgan Hunt makes a layup inside off an assist from Anna Drakeford to keep it at a 2 point game with 1:10 to go.
• Thomas More comes up just short and falls to Northern Michigan 48 to 46.
• Thomas More shot 19 for 63 from the field (30.2%) and 6 for 22 (27.3) from beyond the arc.

• Rylee Turner tied for the team high in points with 9, also led the team in rebounds with 9.
• Morgan Hunt tallied 9 points to go with 5 rebounds.
• Anna Drakeford led the team in assists with 5 to go along with 4 points and 6 rebounds.
• Laney Baker scored 7 points off the bench along with 5 rebounds.

The Saints will return to action tomorrow (November 9th) for day two of the JustAGame Crossover Tournament. They play Michigan Tech at 1:00 PM.