Thomas More continues quest for perfection, national title with 87-72 win over Washington-St. Louis

By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter

College basketball royalty took the court at the Connor Convocation Center on Saturday night, with two elite women’s programs squaring off for a trip to the NCAA Division III Final Four.

How elite? Washington University-St. Louis owns an NCAA Division III-record five national championships. The Bears seized four consecutive national championships from 1998–2001 and won 81 straight games during that stretch of domination.

Meanwhile, Thomas More University has captured two NCAA Division III national titles on the court, even though the NCAA later made the Saints vacate their 2015 championship due to an eligibility issue. Thomas More also entered Saturday’s showdown sporting a 30-0 record, ranked No. 1 in the national poll and clearly a dominant program.

How dominant? The Saints haven’t lost a regular-season game since 2017. They’ve been to three NCAA Division III Final Fours in the past four years. They never lose at home.

And they certainly weren’t going to allow their season to end at home on Saturday night.

Thomas More remained perfect with an 87-72 win over Washington in front of a raucous crowd at the Connor Convocation Center. Madison Temple scored 36 points — 18 of those in the decisive fourth quarter — as the top-ranked Saints extended their home winning streak to 26 games. Thomas More hasn’t lost at home since March 4, 2017.

Shelby Rupp added 18 points and seven rebounds for Thomas More, which earned a trip to next week’s NCAA Division III Final Four in Salem, Va. The Saints (31-0) used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a 62-60 deficit into a 70-62 lead and pulled away from the stubborn Bears.

“I thought the crowd really helped us out late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter,” Thomas More head coach Jeff Hans said. “We made a few shots to get up 16 (points) in the first half, but their transition and offensive rebounding really cut into it, and it’s a five-point game at halftime.

“Then they came out on fire (in the second half) making all kinds of 3-pointers on us. We made some mistakes that they took advantage of, which a very good ball club does. But we found a way to fight through it and outscored them 31-15 in the fourth quarter to win it.”

Temple, who finished with nine rebounds and seven assists, ignited the 10-0 run after Washington had taken a 62-60 lead. She assisted a 3-pointer by Kaela Saner that gave Thomas More a 63-62 advantage with 7:30 remaining, and then followed that with a short jumper to extend the lead to 65-62.

After grabbing a defensive rebound off a Washington miss, Temple found Rupp inside for a layup to give the Saints a 67-62 edge. Temple capped the 10-0 spurt with a conventional three-point play at the 5:46 mark, giving Thomas More a 70-62 cushion.

“We put the ball in Madison’s hands and let her make decisions,” Hans said. “We were also able to get stops and control their scoring.”

Madeline Homoly scored 27 points for Washington, which ended the season with a 22-7 record. Trailing 37-32 at the half, the Bears proceeded to hit six 3-pointers in the third quarter — including five consecutive treys — to take a 47-45 lead on Stephanie Botkin’s triple.

“They weren’t missing their 3-pointers, and we couldn’t stop them for a while,” Hans said of the third quarter. “We made more plays down the stretch, and that’s why we won. But you have to tip your cap to (Washington) because they have an outstanding team.”

Washington finished 11-for-26 from 3-point range, including 6-for-9 in the third quarter. Thomas More, though, clamped down defensively in the final quarter and limited the Bears to just 2-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

Temple, a graduate of Anderson High School in Cincinnati, is Thomas More’s all-time career scoring leader with 2,144 points. She converted 15 free throws in 17 attempts on Saturday night and also added three steals.

Saner chipped in 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Emily Schultz scored 10 points for the Saints, who shot 54.4 percent from the field and 87.5 from the charity stripe. Thomas More will meet ninth-ranked Scranton (Pa.) in the NCAA Division III Final Four on Friday.