By Trey Andrews

The Tomcats lost to the Thomas More Saints for the second time this season with a final score of 50 to 90.

The Tomcats were coming into this game 3-14, but they were not going to allow their record to reflect on how this game was going to play out. They were also seeking revenge from the tough loss they faced when they traveled down to Kentucky to face the Saints the first time earlier this season.

Everything about this game felt great from the tip-off, and there was plenty of energy to go around. The Tomcats were grateful to also have their Forward Taylor Duchon make a full recovery from her injury that had her sidelined for majority of the season. Duchon played limited minutes in this game, but she made a great difference on the defensive side, as she applied pressure to Thomas More’s big-men down low.

The crowd was behind the Tomcats the whole game, even when they were behind the Saints. First quarter the Tomcats were hanging right with the Saints, not letting the lead get to large.

Second quarter, the Saints offense started to become too much for the Tomcats, as they were shooting lights out against the Tomcat defense. Niki Kierman led the Saints in points going into the second with 10 and grabbed a total of 6 rebounds to add to her scoring attack. Shelby Rupp was also a huge factor in the first half as well, she ended the first half with 8 points, and she also contributed to the glass as she outrebounded her team mate and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Thomas More had a pretty good cushion going into the second half, but the Tomcats were not out of this game at all, and when the start of the second half started they came out on fire. Jess Vormelker hit the first three out of the half to give the Tomcats a little spark to get going.

Thomas More responded very well to the Tomcats energy coming out in the second half, and they picked up right where they left off at in the first half with their shooting. The Tomcats changed up their defense a little bit, and it helped as they caused some turnovers that led to some easy baskets to cut into the Thomas More lead, but their efforts were not enough to catch up to the big margin they were in by Thomas More.

Jess Vormelker finished the game in the winding minutes of the fourth quarter with 24 points, Alivia Sidley finshed the game with 7 points, Sarah Nagy finished with 6 points, Courtney Harriman finished with 4 points, and Danyelle Lucido, Taylor Duchon, and Hannah Rossman all finished with 3 points.