CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - On a snowy afternoon, the #1 Campbellsville University women's basketball team traveled to #3 Thomas More University to face their Mid-South Conference rival. The Lady Tigers fell to the Saints 72-56 and fell to 15-1 on the season.
From the first whistle, the intensity was high in Thomas More's gymnasium. The Saints put numbers on the scoreboard first. Campbellsville's offense was shaky to begin the game producing a turnover and then had shots blocked within their first two possessions.
Ashlee McGeorge was first to produce a bucket down in the low post for Campbellsville. After a leadless trek,
Maddy Boyle's three-pointer brought the Lady Tigers to lead at 10-9. Campbellsville struggled to defend the low post on the other end and ended the first quarter 16-12 in the Saint's favor.
To begin the second,
Faith Lake capitalized off her steal for a layup. While still down, the Lady Tigers went on a four-point run with layups from
Courtney Pritchett and
Bailey Pedigo to even the score at 21-21. Thomas More did not ease up on the Lady Tigers. However, Boyle came out firing back-to-back threes to propel Campbellsville above the Saints. As two seconds remained, the Saints stole the ball and captialized on the opportunity tying the score at 29-29.
Campbellsville's defense kept the Lady Tigers afloat going into the half. Campbellsville lacked in each shooting category but forced the Saints into ten turnovers compared to their four. Boyle led with nine points and Pritchett followed with seven. Pritchett tallied four rebounds and her teammates, McGeorge and Wilks, totaled three each.
The third quarter began with both teams at a rapid pace. Though Thomas More went on to score a buckets from the arc, a pair of charity shots from
Faith Lake evened the score yet again. The Lady Tigers let up on their defense against the Saints as Thomas More separated themselves and grew the score to a nine-point lead. Thomas More was simply outscoring the Lady Tigers as they mustered up 24 points compared to Campbellsville's 11 points in the quarter. The Saints accumulated five of their eight three-pointers within the third quarter solidifying a 13-point deficit. Pritchett's deep two-point basket ended the quarter 53-40.
The final quarter was a nail-biter as the Lady Tigers tried to work back from their shortfall in the quarter before. Campbellsville continued to struggle to sink shots whereas Thomas More was establishing points from all over the court. The Saints lead by as many as 20 points, but the Lady Tigers went on an eight-point run to scratch back. The Lady Tigers would not be able to bring the Saints' lead back to single digits and the final horn sounded to a score of 72-56.
The Lady Tiger's shooting faltered Thursday evening as they accumulated a field goal percentage of 31.8 compared to their 50% average. Thomas More moved the ball around well to total 20 assists whereas Campbellsville only totaled nine. Pritchett led her team with 14 points, Boyle followed with 13, and Pedigo with nine. Pritchett also racked up eight rebounds while Wilks tallied next with five.
The Lady Tigers will return to the floor in one week to compete against the University of Tennessee Southern Firehawks. The contest will be held at Powell Athletic Center and is set to begin at 6 p.m. ET.
