CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. --- For the first 30 minutes of the game, Eastern Mennonite's women were capably playing with No. 1 Thomas More College on a hostile court in Crestview Hills, Ky. But then TMC's Sydney Moss, last year's D3hoops National Player of the Year, took over and knocked the Royals from the NCAA Tournament, 85-65.
The Royals close the year at 23-5, their fourth consecutive season with 21 or more wins. With Friday's 77-76 win over La Roche in the NCAA First Round, the women also notched just the second NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Sa'Mone Moore opened the scoring with a three ball as the Royals streaked to a quick 7-0 lead on the nation's top-ranked team. The Saints answered with the next seven to tie the score. The teams then traded leads, with Shakeerah Sykeshitting a pair of free throws to put EMU up 24-22 with 6:13 left in the half.
The Royals unraveled over the next six minutes, however, managing just two free throws the rest of the half as Thomas More closed on a 12-2 run to grab a 34-26 lead at the break.
The Saints carried their offensive momentum into the second half, keeping an edge on the women. Sykes scored all six points in a short EMU run, slicing the deficit to 42-35 at the 16:13 point.
But with the Royals using guards to match up with TMC's All-American Sydney Moss, the Saints pounded the ball inside. Moss scored her team's next eight points, keeping the lead around 10 points.
Finally Marla zumFelde canned a three pointer to get Eastern Mennonite within 54-48 with 10:49 to go, triggering a timeout. Moss then took over the game from outside, personally notching an 11-0 run, including a trio of long bombs, blowing up a 65-48 lead. In all, Moss scored 21 points during Thomas More's 23-13 stretch as they opened up a 17-point lead with 9:13 left.
The Royals steadied the ship from there, but couldn't put together a run similar to the one they did the night before, when they overcame an 18-point deficit against La Roche. A tip-in from Jess Rheinheimer got the women back within 13 at 67-54 with 7:02 to play, but the Saints seemed to get long range three pointer or a steal every time they needed one.
The starters headed to the bench with 1:44 remaining, signifying the end of a very successful season for Eastern Mennonite.
The Royals out-shot TMC 46% to 41%, but were undone by committing 21 turnovers and giving up 17 offensive rebounds to the Saints.
Sykes led EMU with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists in her final game. Rheinheimer charted 15 with seven boards. ZumFelde shot 4-5 from outside and added 12 points off the bench. Alisa Brown had six points, five rebounds and three assists.
Moss dominated the second half offensively, shooting 13-15 in the frame when she scored 30 of her game-high 43 points. She also had 11 rebounds and four assists. Outside of Moss, the rest of the Saints combined to shoot just 14-48 from the floor for 29.2%. Abby Owings hit four treys and scored 16 as TMC's other main weapon.
--- This release is courtesy of the Eastern Mennonite University sports information department. ---
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