CRESTVIEW HILLS, Kentucky. – In a matchup of unbeatens and the top two-ranked teams in Division-III women’s basketball, St. Thomas fell 75-58 to Thomas More in the Elite 8, despite a career-high 21 points from forward Anna Smith Saturday night.
The No. 2-ranked Tommies (30-1) dropped their first game of the season to the Saints (31-0) in an electric atmosphere at the Connor Convocation Center, which was filled to capacity. The Tommies, who were pursuing their sixth Final Four appearance, held a 31-28 halftime lead, but Saints guard Sydney Moss scored 25 second-half points to propel her team to victory.
“She’s that X-factor, in that usually you can take away some things. You can take away the lane or you can take away their driving penetration that’s fine, but she scores in so many different ways,” coach Ruth Sinn said of Moss. “I felt that we did a very good job on her in the first half, not giving her a lot of opportunities playing a little bit more press. In the second half they went to the block, and she kind of got back into her rhythm and then she started feeling it again. She’s definitely a very good scorer.”
The Tommies controlled play in the first half, leading by as many as 5 points. Smith tallied 14 first-half points and took total control in the post for St. Thomas. The Tommies defensive scheme held the Saints’ stellar attack, which averaged 86.7 points per game, to 33.3 percent shooting from the field.
“We thought we were doing a better job of just containing them, containing Moss, making them take tough shots, not getting easy open shots. For the most part, their shooting percentage was exactly where we wanted,” Sinn said. “And offensively I thought we were executing.”
Forward Maggie Weiers, who suffered an ACL tear in the Sweet 16 game against Hope College, tried to play but re-aggravated the injury and was forced to sit the rest of the game. The Tommies were also without guard Hannah Hughes, who also tore her ACL in Friday’s game.
“I don’t know how many teams have gone through the adversity that we’ve gone through,” Sinn said. “Yet, they came in here this game, and they were gonna fight, and they were gonna put it on the floor. They weren’t going to worry about the distractions, like they can’t do this, they can’t do that.”
To start the second half, Moss knocked down two jump shots, which led the Saints on a 7-0 run. Moss, who was first-team All-Southeastern Conference player as a freshman at the University of Florida, raised her scoring average to more than 38 points per game in the NCAA tournament after the victory Saturday.
St. Thomas was never able to recover from the deficit and second half run. Thomas More extended the lead to 20 with just over four minutes to play in the game.
“In the second half things changed a little bit. What happened was they started going on the run more, and we didn’t match them in the offensive end,” Sinn said. “We needed the game to be a little shorter.”
To add to the injury list for the Tommies, Smith played through an ACL tear she suffered in the MIAC conference championship game against Bethel Feb. 28. Smith only played nine games last year because of her previous injury to the same knee.
“It was a little bit different, it was a graft. So, my body didn’t have as bad of a reaction to it. The ACL is already gone, so there is no worry of tearing it anymore,” Smith said. “It’s just more of managing pain and swelling at this point. Honestly, when I’m out there that’s the last thing I’m thinking about.”
“You’ll always think that way,” Sinn said about the thought of having a completely healthy team. “(Smith) is phenomenal, (Weiers) is an All-American, so you’re always going to look back at that, but unfortunately it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Smith, who led all scorers at halftime, said she knew she was capable of taking on that role and stepping up without Weiers in the game.
“I think I just realized that I needed to step up. I know I’m a capable scorer, but we have lots of capable scorers,” Smith said. “So in most games my role is to be a leader out there, and so tonight I needed to kind of do double duty.”
St. Thomas loses seniors Maggie Weiers, Jenna Dockter, Anna Smith, Alyssa Favilla, Laura Margarit, Hannah Hughes, Elaine Warner and Beth Wittry. The St. Thomas senior class finished with an overall record of 110-14, and Sinn hopes the underclassmen learn from the legacy left behind by this year’s graduating class.
“Everybody that’s in the program I hope was taking lessons because this group of seniors is very special. And I knew coming in, when they committed to come here to St. Thomas, they were going to be,” Sinn said. “Hopefully the next group can take notes, but (I’m) very fortunate to have this group of seniors.”
Jordan Kruger can be reached at krug6172@stthomas.edu.