Mar 6, 2017 By Rj Leisie for The Yellow Jacket 4 min read

The Waynesburg University women’s basketball team made the trip to Crestview Hills, Kentucky Friday, Feb, 24 for a Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament semifinal matchup with the Thomas More Saints.

After a slow start by both teams, the Saints showed why they are a top-five team in all of NCAA Division III women’s basketball. Thomas More was victorious over Waynesburg by the final of 71-43, and advanced to the finals to face St. Vincent.

“I thought we played pretty well defensively,” head coach Sam Jones said. “For the most part they were missing shots, we were just giving up offensive rebounds. We just struggled to put the ball in the hoop and it was just a bad combination.”

Thomas More jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with junior forward Nikki Kiernan scoring four of the six. It took the Yellow Jackets until the 6:46 mark in the first quarter to get on the board off an Addy Knetzer jumper.

The closest Waynesburg got in the entire game to Thomas More was three points after Knetzer made a free throw to make the score at 6-3. From there, the Saints started to make shots that they missed in the first seven minutes. Thomas More finished the first period on an 8-0 run and held a 19-5 lead.

In the second quarter, it was mostly the Madison Temple and Kiernan show for the Saints. Kiernan scored six of her 10 points in the quarter, while Temple, a sophomore guard, added four of her 12 points in the first half in the quarter. Waynesburg entered the locker room at half trailing 40-11.

“Offensive rebounds and put it back in the hoop: that is [what Kiernan does for the most part,]” Jones said. “Madison Temple is just a great player. She drove to the hoop but most of their points are off rebounds.”

The Yellow Jackets got a nice boost to start the third when senior guard Katie Gehlmann hit a three from 25 feet. From there both teams traded baskets until the horn sounded to signify the end of the third. Waynesburg outscored Thomas More 14-11 but still trailed overall, 51-25.

In the fourth quarter, the big three for Thomas More in Abby Owings, Temple and Kiernan did not see the court but the bench was able to finish the game for Saints. Freshman Emily Shultz added 10 points along with sophomore Shelby Rupp adding seven of her own.

For Waynesburg, Knetzer finished the game with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Gehlmann finished the contest with 11 points. Waynesburg fell 71-43 and was outrebounded in the contest 62-43 with Thomas More getting 21 offensive rebounds in the game.

“I told the girls to hold their heads high,” Jones said. “We didn’t quit and I was really proud of that. We started to make some shots and got a little momentum before the end. The girls fought hard.”

There is a possibility that this was the final game for seniors Kassidy O’Keefe, Haley Delaney and Gehlmann. The Yellow Jackets are still in a running for a selection in an Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament but each regional tournament has been reduced from eight teams to four.

“They each have brought a different thing to the program,” Jones said about the three seniors. “They all have had great careers here. Kassidy has been a great leader with a great work effort. Katie has been a phenomenal shooter for us and a good player. Haley had her best year by far this year. She went to areas that she normally doesn’t want to play but she did it and did a really nice job. [If it’s over] we will miss the three of them for sure.”