THOMASVILLE, Ga. –  Thomas University's women's basketball team dominated the Lady Gyrenes of Ave Maria (Fla.) this afternoon at home in their 73-57 victory.

The Lady Night Hawks completely overpowered Ave Maria in the first half en route to the 50-10 lead at the break.  The Lady Gyrenes, who were held to 9.68 percent shooting from the field, struggled in the opening frame.  Thomas' defense pressured the Lady Gyrenes into 13 first half turnovers.  TU's inside presence and lockdown defense in the paint forced Ave Maria to outside shooting missing all of their 15 first half attempts from behind the arch.
 
While the Lady Gyrenes were faced with the 40 point deficit at the half, they did not back down from the fight.  In the second half, Ave Maria regained their sense of play and slowly began to chip away at Thomas' lead.  AMU pulled within 17 points with 3:37 remaining in regulation, but the gap was too much to overcome down the stretch sending the Lady Night Hawks to the 73-57 win.
 
Freshman guard Tess Wright had an enormous day for Thomas scoring a single-game career high of 17 points.  The Calhoun, Ga., native shot 71.4 percent (5-for-7) from behind the arch. Wright also brought down two rebounds and dished out three assists all while gathering two steals.  Two other Lady Night Hawks were in double figures on the evening.  Courtney Saunds added 13 points while Ivory Smith contributed 10 in the winning effort.

"I thought we shot the ball much better today," stated head coach Coretta Brown.  "We had a mental lapse in the second half, but we figured it out and were able to get the win in front of a great crowd."
 
Thomas improves to 7-10, 4-4 in TSC play, while Ave Maria drops to 11-10, 2-7 on the year.

The Lady Night Hawks return to action on Thursday, Jan. 29 when they travel to Miami Gardens, Fla., to face off with Sun Conference rival Florida Memorial University (Fla.).  Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.

For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU women's basketball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksWBKB.