NKyTribune staff
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The journey to a fourth national championship continued for Thomas More on Monday night, and the Saints are now just one victory away from claiming the NAIA crown.
Blocking Thomas More’s path to the NAIA national title was hometown favorite Morningside, but the top-ranked Saints fought off the seventh-ranked Mustangs and pulled out a 65-62 win. Taylor Clos led Thomas More (29-1) with 14 points and also dished out five assists as the Saints won their 14th consecutive game.
Taylor Clos led Thomas More with 14 points and also dished out five assists. (Photo by Jeff McCurry)
Thomas More will face No. 4 Westmont (Calif.) in Tuesday night’s NAIA national championship game at 8 p.m. Westmont posted a 74-65 win over Indiana Wesleyan in the other semifinal late Monday night.
Emily Simon scored 11 points for Thomas More, while Zoie Barth added 14 rebounds, seven assists and seven points. Thomas More jumped out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter and appeared on its way to a blowout win, but Morningside drained 14 shots from 3-point range to rally.
Morningside guard Sierra Mitchell scored a game-high 27 points and was 7-for-17 from beyond the arc to lead the comeback. The Mustangs (29-3) eventually took a 53-51 lead with 9:48 to play in the game, but Thomas More countered with a 14-6 run to gain a 65-59 advantage on Alexah Chrisman’s basket.
Summer Secrist finished with eight points and five rebounds off the bench for Thomas More. Chrisman finished with eight points, four rebounds and one block.
Morningside entered Monday night with a 23-game winning streak.
Thomas More is seeking its fourth national championship in seven years. The Saints won back-to-back NCAA Division III national championships in 2015 and 2016. Thomas More added a third national crown in 2019 before transitioning to the NAIA last season.
Thomas More will square off against a Westmont team that was ranked No. 1 in the NAIA poll to begin the season. Stefanie Berberabe scored a game-high 26 points to ignite Westmont’s win over Indiana Wesleyan on Monday night. Kaitlin Larson finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors, who improved to 14-1.
Westmont’s only loss this season is a 68-56 setback at Pepperdine, which competes at the NCAA Division I level. Since then, the Warriors have won 14 straight games.
(Information compiled from the NAIA and staff reports)
