(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) – The No. 1-ranked Thomas More College women's basketball team got a career-high 21 points from freshman guard Madison Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) as it defeated Westminster College, 93-47, today (Saturday, December 5, 2015) in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.
With the win, the Saints improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the PAC. With the loss, the Titans fall to 0-6 overall and 0-2 in the PAC.
Thomas More jumped out to an early 8-0 lead with 7:33 to play in the first half when senior forward Alexa Santamaria (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) made a lay-up. Westminster answered with a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 8-4 when Kristine Fromknecht made two free-throws with 5:58 to play in the opening quarter. The Saints closed out the quarter on an 11-4 run to take a 19-8 win when sophomore guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) made a lay-up with four-seconds to play in the first quarter.
The Saints out-scored the Titans 29-9 in the second quarter to take a 48-17 lead at halftime.
Thomas More out-scored Westminster 28-10 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 76-27 after three quarters.
Westminster used a 20-17 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter to cut into the Saints' lead, but it wasn't enough as Thomas More cruised to the 93-47 victory.
Owings joined Temple in double-figure scoring with 12 points. Just missing double-figure was senior forward Samantha Cady (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) with nine points and Santamaria with eight points. Sophomore forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) led the team on the boards with 10 rebounds, while Cady led the team in assists with five and senior guard Olivia Huber (Woodlawn, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) led the team in steals with four.
The Saints are idle until next Saturday (December 12) when they host Grove City College at 2 p.m. at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.