(MARYVILLE, Tenn.) – The No. 4-ranked Thomas More College women's basketball team outscored Maryville College, 39-16, in the second and third quarters tonight (Tuesday, November 22, 2016) to defeat the Scots 71-42 in a non-conference game at the Cooper Athletic Center in Maryville, Tennessee.
With the win, the Saints improve to 2-0 and with the loss, the Scots fall to 2-1.
Maryville jumped out to an early 10-4 lead with 5:23 to play in the first quarter when Rachel Hawn made a jumper. The Saints closed out the opening quarter on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 12-12 after the first quarter.
Thomas More opened the second quarter on a 12-4 run to build a 24-16 lead when junior forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Springs, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) made a jumper with 4:24 to play in the quarter. The Scots answered with a 4-0 run capped by a free-throw by Amber Hudgens with 2:29 to play in the second quarter to cut the lead to 24-20. Thomas More closed out the first half on a 5-0 to take a 29-20 halftime lead when first-year forward Emily Schultz (Melbourne, Ky./Bishop Brossart) made a lay-up with 58-seconds to play in the second quarter.
The Saints opened the third quarter on a 22-5 run capped by a lay-up by sophomore guard Madison Temple (Anderson, Ohio/Anderson) to extend the lead to 51-25 with 2:22 to play in the quarter. Maryville's Haley Talbott made a three-pointer with 1:10 to play in the third quarter to make the score 51-28 heading into the fourth quarter. Thomas More out-scored Maryville 20-14 in the fourth quarter to cruise to the 71-42 victory.
Thomas More out-scored Maryville 44-20 in the paint and 12-3 off fast breaks.
Junior guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) led three Saints in double-figure scoring with a game-high 19 points. Joining her in double-figures was Temple with 16 and Kiernan with 12. Schultz and Kiernan led the team on the boards with six rebounds each, while Temple led the team in assists with six and Owings led the team in steals with four.
Thomas More returns to action on Saturday and Sunday (November 26-27) when it hosts the 15th Annual Julie Costello Memorial Classic presented by Barleycorn's. The Saints will play Wittenberg University on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Denison University on Sunday at 4 p.m. Saturday's game with Wittenberg has been designated as a "White Out" and all fans that wear white will be admitted free to that game.