(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) – Thomas More University's women's basketball team defeated Tiffin on Saturday afternoon (Jan 31), 65-63. The Saints improve to 18-2 and 10-2 in conference. The win gives head coach
Brian Neal his 200th win at the helm of the program.
- Hunt scored the first points of the game with a three-pointer followed quickly by a Leonard layup on a fast break to put the Saints up 5-0.
- The Dragons took a two point lead at the 7:26 mark in the first quarter – their largest of the first half.
- Leonard scored a old-fashioned three point play and Turner scored on a layup off a turnover to put Thomas More back up by three.
- Tiffin tied the game with just under three minutes to play in the opening period before Jackson ended the first quarter with a free throw to put Thomas More up 18-15.
- Webb had the first points of the second quarter with a pair of free throws. She would go on to score 13 points in the quarter with seven of them coming from the charity stripe and shooting a perfect 3-3 from the floor.
- Webb's seventh free throw put Thomas More up 37-27 before Unger hit a three-pointer for the Dragons before a scoreless final minute.
- Tiffin opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a three point lead and forcing a Saints timeout with 4:28 to play with Tandy scoring on a jump shot outside the paint for her seventh point of the game.
- After the teams returned to the court, Webb hit a layup before the Dragons extended the lead to seven by the end of the third quarter and nine by the early fourth quarter.
- Beginning with a layup from Webb, the Saints scored 10 in a row to retake the lead. The remainder of the run was scored from the free throw line as Webb went 4-4, Rotert and Jackson went 2-2.
- The remainder of the fourth quarter was back-and-forth as neither team had more than a one-possession lead.
- Thomas More tied the game at 63 with a fast break layup from Jackson before Turner hit two free throws with six seconds remaining. The game was sealed with a turnover from Tiffin.
- Sereniti Webb tied her Thomas More career high with 25 points. It's her third time hitting that mark this season. Her game-high 14 rebounds, with 10 on the defensive end are both new season highs. At the free throw line, she went 15-16 with both numbers being the most she has had in a single game at Thomas More.
- Rylee Turner and Amara Jackson each had 8 points. Turner added 8 rebounds.
- Izzy Rotert had a game-high 4 blocks.
- As a team, Thomas More went 31-38 at the free throw line after drawing 23 fouls from the Dragons. The Saints also out-rebounded Tiffin 45-31 and outscored them 30-26 inside the paint.
The Saints will head back on the road to face Ashland on Thursday (Feb 5) at 5:30 PM ET and Cedarville on Saturday (Feb 7) at 1 PM ET.
