[Stardust]

First-year Thomas More women's basketball coach Jeff Hans knew he was going to have to find a way to make up for the 51 percent of points lost from last year's team, but he couldn't have expected sophomore guard Katie Kitchen to almost take care of that herself.

Kitchen, who averaged 6.1 points per game last season and had a career-high of 15, set the Thomas More single-game scoring record Tuesday with 39 points, including a conventional three-point play with four seconds left in overtime that gave the Saints an 80-79 win at Centre in the season opener.

Kitchen made 10 of 20 shots from the field, including 3 of 8 3-point attempts, and 16 of 18 free throws.

"I had no idea I had that many," said Kitchen, a Campbell County graduate who redshirted after five games of the 2008-09 season because of a knee injury. "It was such a close game and was just going back and forth that all I was thinking about was winning."

Thomas More lost three seniors off last year's team and then lost junior guard Chelsea Tolliver to an injury before the season.

"We talked about it from day one ... that not one person would be able to make up for that, but Katie was great," said Hans. "They had a hard time guarding her, and then once they started doing a better job on the pick and roll, she used some athleticism and was able to hang and finish with some contact."

Hans expects Kitchen to be a 15- to 20-point scorer this season.

"She averaged about a point a minute or close to it last season, so we figure with more minutes this year, she'll score more points," said Hans. "I don't know about 39, but she's going to score for us."

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...ext|Sports