Saint Mary-of-the-Woods women's basketball is back within one game in the loss column of first place Oakland City in the River States Conference West Division following Saturday's 85-78 victory over Alice Lloyd.
Coach Terry Bowe's squad got off to a strong start behind senior Allyson Hardiek's 10 first-quarter points, but the visiting Eagles, entering the day with records of 9-8 overall and 4-4 in the RSC, were connecting from 3-point range throughout the day. They hit 12 of 22 from beyond the arc.
SMWC led just 40-39 at halftime, but the Pomeroys continued a season-long trend of putting together strong third quarters. The Pomeroys closed the period with an 11-2 run to take a 65-58 lead into the final period. Irye Gomez had five points during that stretch, while Brooklynn Jones and Destiny Thomas also had buckets for the Pomeroys.
While the Eagles closed to within 71-70 with 5:22 to go, the Pomeroys held on for the victory. Thomas had a two key buckets to help secure the win, SMWC's 10^th overall that put the squad 6-2 in the RSC.
 

Three key takeaways from an important homecourt win:
1. Thomas has been a sparkplug to the Pomeroys, especially since the calendar flipped to 2024.
The junior guard has started the past four games and is averaging 8.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.8 steals since a Jan. 3 game against Ohio Christian.
On Saturday, Thomas had 7 offensive rebounds, four assists and made 7 of 10 from the field on the way to 15 points, tying her career-high in December of 2021.
"We have been struggling to get boards and finding that grit," Thomas said. "Today, everyone impacted on the boards and that was really cool to see. We're getting better." 
Thomas also forced Alice Lloyd leading scorer Hannah Kash into some tough shots. Kash was 2 of 6 from the field with two turnovers in the fourth quarter.
"I thought Destiny did the job defensively on No. 20 (Kash) and gave us some offensive rebounds. Across the board, she was solid and really solidified us on the defensive side of the ball," Bowe said.
With a 3-to-1 assist to turnover ratio the past five games, Thomas' high-energy guard play will be key for the Pomeroys moving into the second half of the conference schedule.
 

2. SMWC needs Hardiek to be an offensive threat as she was Saturday.
The 6-foot-2 senior had a season-high 14 points, reaching double figures for the second time this season. Known for her shot blocking – she owns the career, single-season and single-game records at SMWC – Hardiek can ease the burden on the solid scoring the Pomeroys are getting from Jones, Gomez and Madison Fueger.
Hardiek added 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.
"For Allyson, it was one of her better games this season," Bowe said. "She dominated the post area and set the presence for (the Eagles) having to settle for outside shooting. It really solidified the rebounding war for us."

3. There's room to grow.
The Pomeroys were 0-3 against Alice Lloyd over the previous two seasons. They'll look to get the first program win at Point Park next week with the chance to really build some momentum and confidence that they can get into the upper tier of the RSC this season.
The talent is there to do so.
Gomez was last week's RSC Player of the Week and had 14 Saturday in three quarters before leaving with what the coaching staff hopes is a minor injury.
Jones is averaging 17.5 points and shooting over 50 percent during RSC play and has added the 3-pointer as an additional weapon to her elite mid-range game.
Kylee Stepp is a 44 percent 3-point shooter off the bench in league play and Aubrey Burgess' athleticism at guard causes problems for opponents on both ends of the court.
"We're only a game out of first in the division. It was a good solid team win. We played well on both ends of the floor. We hope this momentum can carry us into a big week next week," Bowe said. "Pretty efficient on both sides of the ball today. Just have to try to keep it rolling."