This story originally appeared in the March 31 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
Only four minutes separated Thomas More from a second straight NAIA national championship, tied at 50 with Clarke University.
To be in that spot for the third straight season, took even coach Jeff Hans by surprise, a guy who since taking over the program in Crestview Hills has won, over 90% of the time.
This was just the Saints fourth season in NAIA, moving up from Division III. While they took some losses in their first season in a rigorous Mid-South conference that’s proven to test teams nightly, here they were looking to cut the nets down and bring the top trophy back to Thomas More for the second straight season.
But the Saints ultimately fell short, outscored 13-2 in those final four minutes for a 63-52 defeat, their second runner-up finish in three seasons.
“I didn’t even see that success so quickly. To be able to have Zoie (Barth) and Courtney (Hurst) as freshman and playing a lot of minutes, also had a few transfers in. Being able to do those things helped expedite the process and success. I certainly didn’t envision being in the championship in three straight years. Surely didn’t see that,” Saints coach Jeff Hans said.
The 2022-23 season is one in which they won their first 22 games and had the No. 1 ranking in the country for pretty much the entirety. The target was on them all year and the team embraced it, finishing 31-4.
“Thought we handled the target on us really well,” Hans said. “Coming in No. 1, the defending champs, we accepted the challenges. The schedule wasn’t the easiest and the Mid-South is tough. It wears on you a bit and we handled it in a positive way. Our chemistry was good, the team played together and for each other.”
The loss on March 18 signaled the end of a short era and a start to a new one. It ends the careers of four-year players Zoie Barth and Courtney Hurst along with two other seniors in Emily Simon and Sammi Whiteman. Barth and Hurst were two guards thrown into the fire when the team made the transition to NAIA as freshmen.
“Courtney and I always joke about our freshman year and how that season was the most of coach Hans’ losses in his career. Coming in as freshman, we grew up together, played with each other or against each other from elementary all the way through high school. It was super special playing with her. We didn’t know what to expect and didn’t expect to play as freshman, but we gained a lot of experience, a lot of hard wins and losses and that set the stage for us the rest of the way,” Barth said.
Barth closed her career strong, finishing with a career-high 14 points per game this past season and totaling 1,483 points for her career. She started 116 of 124 games throughout the four seasons and was named a WBCA All-American for the second time this past season.
Hurst set the program’s 3-point mark, ending her career with 331 three-pointers, knocking down a career-high 94 this season and scored 1,442 points during her Thomas More career. Hurst started all 133 games played in her Saints career and was named All-American Honorable Mention this past season.
“If you would have told me we would end with three chances at a national championship and a conference championship I would have said you were crazy. Not many people get those opportunities. I’m super grateful for all that, we gave it our all. It stinks to lose your last game, but we gave it all we had,” Hurst said.
Simon played three seasons in Crestview Hills and was highly productive from the get-go, tallying 942 points and 557 rebounds in three years with the team.
Whiteman played in 57 games over the last two seasons after transferring in from Trevecca Nazarene.
“Seniors like that get a lot of wins, they have a lot of experience on the floor and are able to make plays for you. They’re leaders, vocal leaders and leaders by example in practice. They really led this team in the right direction,” Hans said.
Now comes a big move again as the University transitions to Division II next academic year. It will start with fall sports in late July and early August and then come winter, the basketball teams will adjust to Division II and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
While Hans has experienced the transition before, he’ll take this offseason to learn and grow some more. Moving up means more opportunity, recruiting different types of athletes to fit the style of play and getting accustomed to new opponents and a new conference.
“It will be a lot of trial and error and figuring things out moving forward. Things change a lot and the scholarships we’re able to give. We know we need to get a little different type of player to be able to play at Division II at the highest level and make that transition,” Hans said. “We’ll need to adjust to the travel, a new league with all new teams. The scouting, the preparation.”
March 18 also marked the last chance for anyone a sophomore and up being able to compete for a national championship. They’ll now have a two-year waiting period as they transition into D-II, meaning they won’t be eligible for the national tournament, just the GMAC postseason tournament.
“It hasn’t affected us a ton so far yet. We’re hoping to continue to make it more of a positive. We’ll still play for a conference championship and it kind of allows us to figure out where we’re at in recruiting the right kids and developing the right players,” Hans said.
Thomas More will be one of three Division II universities in Kentucky. Kentucky Wesleyan and Kentucky State are the others.
They’ll return starters Rachel Martin and Rylee Turner along with key reserves Alex Smith, Kelly Brenner, Maggie Jones and Mattison Vickers while others will battle for minutes.
The incoming class confirmed already includes Eastern Brown’s (OH) Rylee Leonard, voted the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year, East Central’s (IN) Laney Baker and Tri-Village’s (OH) Morgan Hunt, who helped lead Tri-Village to a Division IV state title. They also have two others verbally committed that Hans couldn’t comment on just yet until their signings are official.
As March 18 closed their chapter on NAIA, they finished their four-year run in the division 114-20 with a national title, two national runner-up finishes, two Mid-South Conference regular season titles, a Mid-South conference tournament title and a Mid-South conference tournament runner-up finish.
“Saturday night is still tough today, it will be tough for a while. But looking back at it, no one has been in this game three years in a row. We’re very blessed and it’s been a good run,” Hans said.