(PEPPER PIKE, OHIO) – The Thomas More University women's basketball team defeated Ursuline College by a score of 73-58 on Thursday (Feb 26) evening. The Saints improve to 22-5 overall and 14-5 in conference play. Senior
Rylee Turner (Newport, Ky. / Newport Central Catholic) hit her 1,000th career point during the game. Junior
Izzy Rotert (Harrison, Ohio / Mercy McAuley) had a career-high 22 points after an 18-point performance in the second half.
- Ursuline built up a six-point lead early in the first quarter – their largest lead of the game.
- Junior Morgan Hunt (Hollansburg, Ohio / Tri-Village) hit back to back shots to start a twelve point run for the Saints as sophomore Kendall Sterling (Seymour, Ind. / Seymour) and junior Desiree Tandy (Danville, Ky. / Danville) each had four points.
- While the Arrows were able to take a slight lead, Rylee Turner hit a pair of free throws at the end of the first quarter to take a 18-17 lead.
- Senior Sereniti Webb (Covington, Ky. / Simon Kenton / Midway) started the second quarter with a layup off an Ursuline turnover. The majority of the second quarter was the two teams trading baskets.
- Rylee Turner, sophomore Amara Jackson (Huntington, W.V. / Huntington), Izzy Rotert, and Desiree Tandy strung together ten unanswered points towards the end of the half giving Thomas More the 32-26 lead before Ursuline hit a free throw with just three seconds left on the clock.
- Desiree Tandy and Kendall Sterling led the Saints with six points each. Desiree Tandy went 3-3 from the floor while Kendall Sterling went 2-3 with a three pointer and a free throw. Thomas More shot 13-34 (38.2%) from the field as a team.
- Izzy Rotert and Sereniti Webb each had four rebounds in the first half.
- Izzy Rotert got the lead up to seven with shots on back-to-back possessions.
- The Arrows were able to tie the game at 39 with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, before Izzy Rotert had her own 5-0 run and Desiree Tandy and Sereniti Webb added to the lead to make it 47-39 with 2:31 left.
- Redshirt junior Natalie Noel (Salem, Ind. / Salem) ended the third quarter with a three-point shot to give the Saints a 52-43 lead heading into the final period.
- Izzy Rotert had 11 of the 20 points for Thomas More in the quarter after shooting 5-7 from the floor and 1-1 at the charity stripe. Natalie Noel had six points off a perfect 2-2 from beyond the arc.
- Izzy Rotert continued her momentum hitting the first point of the quarter and gave the Saints their first double-digit lead of the night.
- With just under four minutes to play, Izzy Rotert hit a layup and a free throw to give Thomas More their largest lead of the night at 17.
- Ursuline scored six unanswered to try to close the gap but Desiree Tandy and Izzy Rotert finished the game with back-to-back lay ups.
- Izzy Rotert scored 18 of her 22 total points in the second half after shooting 8-10 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.
- Rylee Turner had six total points in the second half after hitting all four of her free throws.
- Desiree Tandy had three steals in the second half to help on the defensive end of the court adding to Morgan Hunt's 4 defensive rebounds.
- Izzy Rotert lead all scorers with a career-high 22 points after shooting 9-14 for the game and 4-4 from the free throw line. She also had a team-high 7 total rebounds.
- Rylee Turner had 10 points with six coming from the charity stripe helping her surpass 1,000 points in her career.
- Desiree Tandy was the final double-digit scorer for the Saints after shooting 4-5 from the field and had a game-high three steals.
- Both Sereniti Webb and Natalie Noel had five assists to go along with their 6 and 8 points, respectively. Sereniti Webb also pulled down six rebounds.
- As a team, the Saints shot 28-59 (47.5%) from the floor. They also outscored the Arrows 16-11 on points from turnovers, 42-12 inside the paint, and 12-6 on second chance opportunities.
The Saints will conclude the regular season on Saturday (Feb 28) as they travel to Kentucky Wesleyan. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 PM CT (2 PM ET).
