By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter
The path to a national championship will go through the state of Michigan for the Thomas More College women’s basketball team, which travels north this weekend for the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Thomas More (28-1) plays Gustavus Adolphus (24-6) Friday at 5:30 p.m. in DeVos Fieldhouse at Holland, Mich., on the campus of Hope College. The other game features Hope (27-1) taking on Christopher Newport (25-4) at 7:30 p.m.
Thomas More senior guard Abby Owings averages 14.8 ppg and has made a team-leading 79 shots from 3-point range.
Thomas More enters Friday having won 27 consecutive games. The Saints, who are ranked No. 3 nationally in the NCAA Division III poll, have not lost since a 61-58 setback at Rochester (N.Y.) on Nov. 18. Thomas More captured the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship and then advanced to the Sweet 16 with victories over Oglethorpe (84-58) and Juniata (83-50) last week at Crestview Hills.
Junior guard Madison Temple averages 17.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game to lead Thomas More. Temple was named the PAC Player of the Year and is shooting 88.1 percent from the free-throw line. She has also connected on 56.9 percent of her shots from the field and is 58-for-126 from 3-point range.
Temple netted 18 points and dished out 10 assists to lead the Saints past Juniata last Saturday. In the victory against Oglethorpe on Friday, Temple scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Senior guard Abby Owings is scoring 14.8 ppg and has made a team-leading 79 shots from 3-point range. Owings is Thomas More’s all-time leading scorer with more than 1,700 career points.
Thomas More is No. 2 nationally in scoring at 87.1 points per game. The Saints are winning by an average margin of 36.9 points per contest, which leads the nation. Thomas More is also No. 1 nationally in field-goal percentage (.493) and 3-point shooting percentage (.416).
In addition, Thomas More finished unbeaten in the PAC for the sixth consecutive season. The Saints defeated conference foes in 135 consecutive games dating back to 2012, but the NCAA forced Thomas More to vacate every win during the 2014-15 season due to an eligibility issue, wiping out 20 victories against PAC schools.
Thomas More won back-to-back NCAA Division III national championships in 2015 and ’16. The NCAA later forced Thomas More to vacate all 33 wins from the 2014-15 season, including the national title, for using an ineligible player.
A year ago, Thomas More won 28 consecutive games before dropping a 74-67 decision to Hope at Crestview Hills in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Temple led the Saints in that game with 22 points.
Bellarmine’s Ben Weyer
Bellarmine (28-2 overall record) will meet Truman State (20-10) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Big Rapids, Mich., in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Ferris State is the top seed and host for the Midwest Regional, while Bellarmine is the No. 2 seed.
In the semifinal round of the GLVC Tournament last week, Weyer poured in 17 points and blocked three shots as Bellarmine coasted to an 83-65 win over Indianapolis. He added four points and four rebounds during a 75-61 win against Truman State in the championship game.
For the season, Weyer averages 8.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. The sophomore forward is 54-for-128 (.422) from 3-point range and is third on the team with 18 blocks.
