SARASOTA, Fla. – The Night Hawks began their season on the road against an NAIA Newcomer in New College of Florida Mighty Banyans on Saturday morning.
The contest started rough for Thomas as they fell into a 10-0 run early. With 3:56 to go,
Tieraney Bolton knocked down the first bucket of the year with a three, later on she made a jumper to bring the deficit down to five, then freshman and Thomasville native
Kennedy Hayes got her first points of her Night Hawk career, going coast-to-coast to put them within three to end the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Night Hawks went on the attack with
Destiny Hill making one of two from the charity stripe to make it a one possession game, then Hill got a steal and drained the mid-range shot to tie the game at 10 all. Thomas took their first lead of the game with a smooth three pointer from
Aaliyah Ringold. With the lead in hand, they began to add on to it with
Jamia Brown, another Freshman got her first bucket as a Night Hawk to go up five with 6:15 to go in the half. In the closing minutes of the quarter,
Sophia D'Amaro nailed a three to go up 10, then at the 3:02 mark, Brown made back-to-back layups to give the Night Hawks their biggest lead of the day going up by twelve. After trading threes, Thomas went into the locker room with an eight-point advantage.
The second half picked up right where the first half ended with both teams trading buckets, Bolton sunk a three and Brown made a layup to keep the game at double digits but the Mighty Banyans continued to answer, cutting the lead to three with 2:48 to go in the quarter. With 38 seconds to go, a New College of Florida layup, putting them up by one before the final quarter.
The fourth saw a lot of lead changes to start out, but a layup from
Jasmyn Studamire, followed by a putback by Hill and a mid-range shot from Brown gave the Night Hawks a quick 6-0 run with 6:35 to go. After a couple makes from the stripe made it a three-point game, Bolton knocked down a huge three to go up by six. The Night Hawk defense remained strong as Bolton got a steal which resulted in Studamire making one of two from the line, putting the lead at seven. However, an and-one from the Mighty Banyans cut it down to four and then a layup off of a turnover brought it to a one possession game with 3:03 to go. Two minutes went by and then a New College of Florida layup tied the game at 52-52 with 1:13 left. Then a three by the Mighty Banyans with 50 seconds left gave them the lead and Thomas could not respond.
Bolton led the Night Hawks with 13 points, going three of four from deep with six boards, two assists and a steal.
Brown was the second leading scorer with 10, to go along with seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Hill and Studamire were the defensive anchors for the team, with Hill putting in seven points, eight boards and three steals, Studamire contributed five points, six rebounds and three steals as well.
The Night Hawks next game will be the home opener of the 2024-25 season facing off against Morris College on Tuesday, October 29th at 5:30 PM.
