(LATROBE, Pa.) – The No. 4-ranked Thomas More College women's basketball team clinched the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) regular season out-right tonight (Wednesday, February 14, 2018) as it defeated Saint Vincent College, 75-47, at the Carey Center in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
With the win, the Saints improve to 23-1 overall and 17-0 in the PAC. By winning the PAC regular season, Thomas More clinches the No. 1 seed in the PAC Championship Tournament and will host the tournament's semifinals and championship rounds on February 23 and 24 at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. With the loss, the Bearcats fall to 16-8 overall and 13-4 in the PAC.
Thomas More jumped out to an early 6-0 lead when senior forward Nikki Kiernan (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) made a jumper with 8:13 to play in the first quarter. Saint Vincent answered with a 4-0 run capped by two free-throws by Babette Sanmartin with 7:16 to play in the opening quarter to cut the lead to 6-4. Junior guard Madison Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) made a jumper at the first quarter buzzer to cap a 12-2 run to extend the Saints' lead to 18-6.
The Saints opened the second quarter on a 14-6 run to increase the lead to 32-12 when senior guard Abby Owings (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) made a jumper with 4:35 to play in the quarter. Saint Vincent closed out the quarter on an 11-6 run to cut the lead to 38-23 at halftime when Maria Morgan made a lay-up at the buzzer.
Thomas More controlled the second half as it out-scored the Bearcats 21-14 in the third quarter to lead 59-37 after three quarters and had a 16-10 advantage in the fourth quarter to claim the 75-47 victory.
The Saints had a 32-16 advantage in points in the paint, 11-8 advantage in points off turnovers and a 16-4 lead in second chance points.
Temple recorded a double-double as she scored 16 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Owings led the team in scoring with 16 points, while Kiernan finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Emily Schultz (Melbourne, Ky./Bishop Brossart) scored nine points and junior forward Shelby Rupp (Milan, Ind./Batesville) and first-year guard Briana McNutt (Maysville, Ky./Mason County) each added eight points. Temple lead the team in assists with three, while Owings led the team in steals with three.
The Saints will close out the regular season on Saturday (February 17) when they host Washington & Jefferson College at 1 p.m. inside the Connor Convocation Center. Thomas More will honor Owings and Kiernan prior to tip-off as they will be playing their final regular season game at the Connor Convocation Center.