Sophomore point guard Abby Owings poured in a career-high 27 points in the season opener. Photo by Joe Humphries

By Greg Chandler

Even without the reigning Division III women's player of the year, Thomas More showed in its opener that it is more than ready to compete for another national championship.

The Saints, who went unbeaten in claiming last year's Division III title in Grand Rapids, opened their season last Wednesday with a 62-48 road win over Denison. Sophomore guard Abby Owings fired in a career-high 27 points and fellow second-year player Nikki Kiernan added 14.

The win over Denison came mere hours after Thomas More officials issued a statement that the college was withholding senior Sydney Moss from play pending review of an NCAA compliance question. Moss earned last year's national Player of the Year honors with a spectacular season that was climaxed by a triple-double in the national title win over George Fox.

Against Denison, Thomas More jumped out to a 23-9 lead midway through the second quarter, but the host Big Red stormed back with a 17-4 run to cut the Saints' lead at the half to 27-26.

But it was too much TMC in the second half, as the Saints pulled away to a 54-37 lead with five minutes to play. The Thomas More defense was relentless, causing 28 Denison turnovers, including 17 steals.

"For our first game of the year, I thought we did some really good things. Abby made big plays all night on the offensive end. It seemed like every time that we needed a basket, Abby would step up and make a play for us," TMC head coach Jeff Hans said. "Nikki Kiernan had a very solid game on both ends of the floor. I was proud of our effort the entire game and we received contributions from a lot of players."

Jordan Holmes did her best to keep Denison in the game, scoring 17 points and pulling down 21 rebounds. She also moved closer to becoming the Big Red's and NCAC career leader in blocked shots.

The Saints will play their first home games of the season this weekend at the Julie Costello Memorial Classic, hosting No. 15 Ohio Northern Saturday and Hanover Sunday.

Dutch treat for Hope in WIAC country

For all its success as a program, Hope has struggled in recent years against teams from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

But last weekend was a different story. The 16th-ranked Flying Dutchmen opened their season with back-to-back road wins against WIAC foes, defeating UW-La Crosse 65-47 on Friday, then stunning defending national champion No. 9 UW-Stevens Point, 68-56, Saturday night at Quandt Fieldhouse.

The wins were the first for Hope against WIAC opponents since the 1996 NCAA tournament, when the Flying Dutchmen defeated UW-Whitewater 88-66 on the march to their first national championship game. Since then, Hope had gone 0-8 against WIAC teams, including back-to-back losses to start each of the last two seasons.

"It shows what we can do when we play the right way," Hope head coach Greg Mitchell said. "Our guys were so tough. They personified toughness in my book. We played absolutely tremendous defense, survived some adversity in the second half (against Stevens Point)."

Hope never trailed against UWSP, shooting 47 percent from the field and outrebounding the Pointers 40-25. Senior guard Ben Gardner led the way for the Flying Dutchmen with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while 6-8 senior center Brock Benson added 13 points.

Against UW-La Crosse, Hope battled back from an early 8-point deficit, dominating the second half by a 33-18 margin. The Dutchmen limited La Crosse to 28 percent shooting from the field and owned the boards by a 44-32 margin. Gardner led a balanced attack with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

"It shows what can happen when you have seniors that 'get it,'" Mitchell said. "Our guys really wanted this weekend in Wisconsin. They delivered."

Pioneers edge Catholic in thriller

Another Great Lakes men's team making a big early statement is Marietta. The Pioneers, who opened the season at No. 11 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, came up with a big win in the championship game of the Marietta Shrine Tournament, edging No. 6 Catholic 92-90 at Ban Johnson Arena.

Sophomore guard Dillon Young penetrated the Catholic defense and hit a short jumper with one second remaining to give the Pioneers their fourth straight win to open the season.

The game was a back-and-forth affair that saw Marietta build up a 14-point second half lead, only to see the Cardinals storm back to take a 74-71 lead with seven minutes remaining. However, Marietta came back strong down the stretch to pull out the win.

All five Pioneer starters scored in double figures, led by tournament MVP A.J. Edwards with 20 points and seven rebounds. Young scored 15 points and dished out seven assists, while Luis Garcia and Brennan McKean also tallied 15 points each.

Earlier in the week, Marietta defeated Bethany, 78-65 and Methodist, 79-64. Edwards had 15 points and 13 rebounds in the Bethany win and blocked five shots to go along with 15 points in the victory over Methodist. He earned OAC Player of the Week honors for his performance.

Let's hang on

This week's Escape Artist Award goes to the Wooster women's team, which won its own Nan Nichols Classic over the weekend with a pair of nail-biting one-point wins.

On Friday, the Fighting Scots rallied from a six-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to nip Alma, 77-76. Tournament MVP Anna Gibbs scored 20 points and handed out eight assists, while Lauren Hancher, who scored her 1,000th career point earlier in the week, added 16 points.

Then on Saturday, Wooster held off Adrian, 75-74, in the tournament championship game. Gibbs led the Fighting Scots with 16 points and six assists, but it was her steal with two seconds remaining that killed the Bulldogs' final chance.

Now 4-0 with all four of its wins coming at Timken Gymnasium, Wooster faces its first road test of the season on Tuesday at Marietta.

Workin' overtime

The Hiram women's basketball team played some bonus basketball in splitting two games at a tournament at Penn State-Behrend – going to overtime in both contests.

The Terriers defeated the host Lions 62-55 on Friday, but fell on Saturday to Fredonia State in the tournament championship game, 70-68. Sophomore Mercedes Jones was outstanding for Hiram, tying her career high with a 27-point effort against PSU-Behrend, then pulling down a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 20 points in the loss to Fredonia.

Special performances

Carnegie Mellon's Jack Serbin was terrific as the Tartans opened their season with wins over Geneva and Bethany. Serbin poured in 37 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in an 87-65 win over Geneva, then came back with a 24-point, 18-board performance as CMU defeated Bethany, 82-74.

Mount Union's Annie Bova won tournament MVP honors in the Purple Raiders' own tournament, scored 31 points in an 85-71 win over Elmira, then added 14 points as MTU cruised past Waynesburg, 87-57. Bova also earned OAC women's Player of the Week honors.

Kenyon's Bailey Dominguez hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as the Ladies edged Earlham, 65-64, to win the Quaker Tournament in Richmond. Dominguez had 19 points and eight boards as Kenyon improved to 3-0 to start the season.

Around the Great Lakes was written by Greg Chandler during the 2015-16 season. He is a veteran journalist and broadcaster who has followed Division III basketball for more than 25 years. He has called Hope basketball for radio, including the 2006 national championship run, and served as the first publicist for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.