When Zoie Barth and Courtney Hurst were freshman and Thomas More playing their first season in the Mid-South, they took their lumps.
Coach Jeff Hans wasn’t afraid to throw them into the fire either.
But now as seniors Barth, Hurst and company are doing the thumping, advancing to a third straight Sweet 16 in the NAIA National Tournament with a 98-69 victory over Concordia on Wednesday night at the Connor Convocation Center.
It was Barth, Hurst, Emily Simon and Sammi Whiteman’s last home game in their careers, closing things out with a bang.
“They’ve been the rock of the foundation right now, building on what people have done in the past. I know there was some ups and downs that freshman year when you throw two freshman guards out there and say here you go in the Mid-South and take the lumps, but it’s put us in a pretty good spot right now,” Saints coach Jeff Hanss said. “We always talked about leaving it better than what you found it and they’re going to do that after this year.”
The Saints can thank their long-range shooting and ability to turn turnovers into points for running away with things. They knocked down 18 three-pointers and forced 17 turnovers, turning that into 26 points in their quest for a second straight national title.
“I thought we did a really good job of following the game plan, dictating them where they needed to go to try to get shots. And they did some things to us to that we haven’t seen a ton of, so we were able to get through some screens and do some stuff like that and were able to contest threes. I thought we were just active and energetic and limited their second-chance opportunities in the first half,” Hans said.
The 3-point barrage started early and often. Four of them in the first quarter for a 20-15 lead. Six in the second quarter in taking a 48-30 lead into the half. Four more in the third as they continued to pull away with a 73-53 advantage and closed out with four more in the fourth, connecting on 52% of their attempts.
“We knew that when they press, they gave up a lot of open outside shots and even just in their half court defense that they were always going to come from opposite sides to the post. So we knew those outside shots were going to be open and we just kind of took what they gave us,” Hurst said.
Barth led the way with 22 points as five different players hit double figures, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the floor, pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. Hurst added 16, draining four triples and pulling down five boards. Rylee Turner poured in 14, Alex Smith with 13 off the bench and Rachel Martin with 12. Simon finished just shy of the double-digit mark, finishing with nine points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Saints had 23 assists on 32 made field goals.
Hans was happy with the way they let it fly and played loose. Towards the end of the season that wasn’t quite the case, losing three of their last seven after a 21-0 start.
“I don’t want to play scared. We were playing more not to lose I think at the end of the year. We were probably doing that a little bit, we were playing not to lose instead of trying be more successful and winning. We did that against Pikeville, we did that in the conference tournament and we’ve talked about that a little bit and we’ve been better,” Hans said.
Now comes a few days of rest and a then a 12-hour bus ride to Sioux City, Iowa, where the rest of the tournament will be played. If the Saints are to duplicate last season’s championship effort, they’ll need to win four games in five days starting on Tuesday in the round of 16. They await the winner of John Brown (Ark.) or Mid-South Conference foe Cumberlands in that matchup.
The Saints closed out their home schedule 14-0 at home.
“It’s kind of a surreal moment,” Hurst said. “You don’t realize it until you literally walk off the floor. Especially me and Zoie have been playing together for four years. I love playing with her and Emily and Sammi. It’s exciting that we’re going to Iowa, but we’re always sad to leave here.”
CONCORDIA — 15-15-23-16 — 69
THOMAS MORE — 20-28-25-25 — 98
Concordia (69) — Rushton 14, Toomey 11, Powell 11, Brigham 9, Krieser 7, Heemstra 6, Vieselmeyer 6, Kopke 5
Thomas More (98) — Barth 22, Hurst 16, Turner 14, Smith 13, Martin 12, Simon 9, Brenner 5, Jones 5, Whiteman 2
Records: Concordia 20-12, Thomas More 28-3
