Center Maggie Weiers’ post presence and guard Katie Stone’s 3-point precision carried the No. 16-ranked St. Thomas women’s basketball team over St. Olaf 61-47 Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena.

Weiers had a game-high 20 points on 50 percent shooting while Stone hit three-of-eight from behind the 3-point line for 13 points as the Tommies (19-3 overall, 17-2 MIAC) rolled to a 14-point victory over St. Olaf (13-9 overall, 11-8 MIAC).

“I thought we started off with purpose and intensity,” coach Ruth Sinn said. “We executed very well. Defensively, we held them to longer possessions; I thought we did a real nice job to start off.”

St. Thomas got off to a fast start with Weiers scoring six of the first nine points for the Tommies. The Oles tried to combat the home team’s strong low-post offense by moving to a 2-3 zone. The move, however, did not slow down Weiers or forward Taylor Young, who was close to getting her fourth career double-double with 8 rebounds and 7 points.

While St. Olaf remained in the zone defense, Sinn had her team go into the full-court press.

“You look at that team…that team is a very dangerous team in the half court,” Sinn said. “And we needed to keep that tempo and keep that full-court to keep that ball moving. I thought that for the most part, that tempo was what we wanted it to be.”

The Tommies moved the ball with ease in the first half with long passes over the top of the Oles and quick chest-passes, finding wide-open threes for guard Hannah Hughes, who shot 50-percent from beyond the arc.

“I think my 3-point shot was good tonight because I got great passes from my teammates,” Stone said.

St. Olaf center Elise Raney did find success down low with 13 points and 8 rebounds but couldn’t convert on enough shots around the basket to keep the Oles in the game through the first 20 minutes.

The Tommies racked up 15 assists, but the key to their early lead was transition layups, which were created from steals coming from the full-court press. Stone had a deflection in the first half that guard Laura Margarit grabbed. Margarit then had a smooth bounce pass around the defender to a wide-open Stone who eventually scored on her own steal.

“We emphasized transition offense and beating the zone up the floor,” Margarit said. “By moving the ball around and getting inside-outs, we were able to get open, easy shots again their zone.”

The end of the first half set the tone for the rest of the game when Stone gave St. Thomas an 18-point lead with a last second 3-pointer at the buzzer.

St. Olaf came out passionately in the second half, not ready to give up. One possession included four straight offensive rebounds for the Oles which ended in a 3-pointer. However, Hughes did not allow the Oles to gain any more momentum, going straight down the court connecting with her own three.

Minutes later Hughes did it again and hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left on the shot-clock, but that’s not what made the home fans rise to their feet; Hughes’ three was from outside NBA range.

The second half consisted mainly of St. Olaf trying to make up an insurmountable lead by throwing up 3-pointers. Both teams shot a combined 18 3-pointers in the second half with the Oles converting on 40 percent, St. Thomas 25 percent.

St. Thomas will next be on the road against Concordia-Moorhead Saturday.

“Every game is big right now,” Sinn said. “But Moorhead’s got a great team.”

“We’re just looking at things like ‘one game at a time.’ It’s an exciting time in the season, and we’ve been really clicking as a team,” Margarit said.

Concordia-Moorhead is still a game behind St. Thomas and St. Mary’s for first place in the MIAC after both the Tommies and Cardinals won Wednesday night.

“This game this weekend is going to be tough,” Stone said. “We have to execute offensively and defensively in order to win.”

“They’re playing with energy and purpose, and they are really priding themselves on really being this team that is a tough team, and they are. We’ve got to bring our ‘A games’, it’ll be fun,” Sinn said.

Joey Anderson can be reached at ande9008@stthomas.edu