Playing like champions from the get-go Tuesday night, Thomas More’s Saints led wire-to-wire in winning their first NAIA women’s basketball championship, the one that eluded them a year ago in the finals.
Against a Dordt University team from nearby Sioux Center, Iowa, less than an hour away with backing from more than two-thirds of Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center crowd of 3,000, Thomas More played like the Saints were the home team.
Before the bigger Dordt team knew what hit them, TMU was on top, 21-8, at the end of the first quarter thanks to an 11-0 finishing run. And TMU took off from there, defending first then hustling up-court for open threes or quick layups. It was soon 32-9, 35-11, and finally, 40-15, at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, the margin was 29, 59-30.
Dordt, finishing 29-9 as the tourney’s Cinderella team, finally figured out how to score on the Saints in a 35-18 fourth quarter but it was little, too late as the Defenders never got within double digits in the 77-65 TMU win.
For Thomas More and Coach Jeff Hans, it’s the third national title in seven years with 2016 and 2019 championships in the NCAA Division III to go with the big red, white and blue 2022 NAIA banner that will soon have a place in the Connor Convocation Center.
After finishing as runner-up in Sioux City last year to Westmont (Calif.), the Saints started the season as No. 2 in the Coaches Poll. They ended up No. 1 in the one ranking that matters with their record of 32-4 and six straight wins in the NAIA Tournament.
TMU grad student Alexah Chrisman from Mother McCauley High School and Greendale, Ind., was named Most Valuable Player as she led the Saints with 16 points on seven-of-eight shooting along with seven rebounds much as she had all through the tournament.
“It’s just complete happiness, and a little bit of shock,” Chrisman told the Sioux City Journal after the game. “It hasn’t hit me yet that my career is over, but literally this is everything I’ve dreamed about, and the exact team I wanted to do it with. I’m ready to celebrate. Life can start tomorrow. Right now, tonight, I’m a national champion and that’s it.”
Reserve Taylor Clos, with 11 points and five rebounds, joined Chrisman on the all-tournament team in a tribute to the depth that sustained Thomas More all season. On this night, the Saints’ bench outscored their Dordt counterparts, 34-11, with 10 of the Saints’ 11 players scoring.
Starter Zoie Barth, out of Highlands High and Fort Thomas, added 12 points and five rebounds. But there’s more to her story than that. A year ago, after a knee injury in the semifinal game, Barth missed the championship game.
“Just relief,” Barth told The Journal of her emotions. “After working for this whole last year, especially after tearing up my knee and not getting a chance to play, being back out here and playing the game I love with the people I love, it’s just relief. I just feel blessed to be back out here.”
“It’s a team effort,” Hans said, “and she was a catalyst for it tonight.”
So good was the TMU defense, Dordt didn’t reach double digits until nearly 14 minutes into the game. And despite their relative lack of size, Thomas More blocked six Dordt shots.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ashtyn Veerbeek, Dordt (Iowa)
Karly Gustafson, Dordt (Iowa)
Alexah Chrisman, Thomas More (Ky.)
Angela Perry, Southeastern (Fla.)
Taylor Clos, Thomas More (Ky.)
Abby Downard, Marian (Ind.)
Stephanie Soares, The Master’s (Calif.)
Sierra Mitchell, Morningside (Iowa)
N’Dea Flye, Rocky Mountain (Mont.)
Arleighshya McElroy, Central Methodist (Mo.)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Alexah Chrisman, Thomas More (Ky.)
HUSTLE AWARD: Karly Gustafson, Dordt (Iowa)
