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Crestview Hills, KY -- The Piedmont College women's basketball team faced an uphill battle in their NCAA first round match-up with the country's #1 team in Thomas More College earlier this evening in the Connor Center but put up a valiant effort in the 53-44 loss. The undefeated Saints got all they could handle from the GSAC champion Lady Lions as a furious rally by PC in the closing minutes of the second half came up just short as TMC held on for the nine point victory.

In the first half, it was #1 Thomas More who came out on fire going on a 7-0 shutout run to start the NCAA tourney action. The top-ranked Saints looked to take control from the start holding Piedmont scoreless for the first 4:36 of the game.

Newcomer Sydney Seitz would crack the home team stranglehold dropping a turnaround hook shot over the outstretch arm of a Saint defender to put PC on the board. Seitz was among a slew of Lady Lions seeing their first NCAA tournament action as only senior Laura Simmons had competed in the post-season tournament making an appearance with the 2007-08 team in her freshman year.

Undefeated Thomas More could not get away from the Lady Lions just yet as the GSAC champion squad cut the lead down to eight points on a Keiondra Thompson drive and score at the 7:04 mark in the first half. With that Piedmont bucket, the visitors put the score at 19-12 in favor of the hosting favorite Saints but cut the advantage back down to a single-digit margin.

Thomas More's fast start proved costly for Piedmont as the Saints continued to shoot well from the field including their tries from three-point land. Hot shooting would lead to another TMC run to end the first half as the home team rattled off 12 points to just two for PC heading into the halftime break with a 31-14 lead.

Coming out from the locker rooms, PC began to display the toughness that had led the team to a GSAC title as they promptly outscored the nation's #1 team 8-5 over the first seven minutes of the second half. Key in that run was a return to defensive principles as the squad allowed the Saints to connect on just a single field goal try in that stretch that put the score at 36-22 TMC.

After the Saints connected on a tri-fecta to continue their solid shooting from downtown, a turnaround lay in from Simmons and a fast break basket from Seitz cut the margin down to 13 at the midway point of the second half. The two squads continued to battle down the stretch as PC would chip the Thomas More lead down to single digits for the first time since the 2:42 mark of the first half on another bucket from Thompson with 5:38 on the clock.

Piedmont then stole the spotlight with a furious rally would that continued with a patented Shanice Wheeler steal and score which cut the margin down to just four points at 41-37 with just under four minutes to play. Thomas More tried desperately to hang on to the lead they had held all game long but found themselves in a classic with just over a minute remaining and nothing but a five point lead to show.

However, with time ticking away the Saints managed to hold off the surging Lady Lions for the eventual 53-44 victory after hitting their free throws down the stretch. The 53 points scored by the Saints was just two points higher than the undefeated #1's season low 51 points scored against Grove City on January 22.

Piedmont's scoring leader on the day was Keoindra Thompson who tallied eight points on four of nine shooting in only the first NCAA action of her collegiate career. Fellow youngster Sydney Seitz led the team in rebounding with six boards on the day while Alyssa Jones' five assists was a team-high.

The loss finishes Piedmont's 2010-11 campaign at 20-9 overall as the squad falls in the first round the Division III national tournament. The NCAA appearance is the third for the Lady Lion hoops program in the last five seasons.