The Thomas More Saints, ranked in the top-5 in the nation, defeated Saint Vincent by a score of 92-60 in women's basketball action at the Carey Center.
After trading layups to mark the contest's first points, Susie Ellis made a heads-up play by stealing an outlet pass from a Saints' rebounder and dishing it off to Jasmine Weems giving the Bearcats an early 4-2 edge in the game.
The Bearcats' lead would be short-lived as Thomas More answered with a few baskets of their own to start an impressive 18-5 run to end the quarter on top, 20-9. During that span, SVC endured a shooting drought from the field for the last 8 minutes until Weems had hit a deep 3-pointer from the wing.
Babette Sanmartin began the scoring in the second quarter going coast-to-coast with the ball and converting on consecutive baskets from the paint to cut into their deficit 22-13. Kiara Arnold came off the bench and contributed a quick basket to make it 31-20 at the 4:51 mark. But just as they had done in the first, Thomas More closed the second just as strong with a 15-6 run as they headed into the half up 46-26.
Thomas More's dominance continued throughout the second half of the game. With a 24-point lead with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter, the Saints ended any hopes of a Bearcat comeback by rolling off an 11-point run to make it 73-38 as they headed to the final quarter of the contest.
Strong performances from a few of Thomas More's key players along with the offensive struggles for SVC contributed to the Bearcats tough 92-60 loss.
SVC scoring leaders were Weems with 12 and Taylor Boring with 9, followed by Sanmartin and Paige Montrose who posted 7 each. Katie Ryanhad a team-high with 7 rebounds and Montrose posted 5 which marks a new career-high.
Thomas More was led by Madison Temple who had 23. Nikki Kiernan netted 20, followed by Abby Owings' 14 and Kristen Paul with 10.
The loss ends SVC's win streak at 3 games and moves them to 9-7 overall and 6-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference as they head on the road to play Chatham on Jan. 21 at 1 pm. The road victory improves #5 Thomas More to 16-0 overall and 9-0 in the PAC.