BRADENTON, Fla. — The Ave Maria Women's Basketball team got back to .500 in conference play Wednesday beating the New College of Florida Mighty Banyans 69-62. Ella Thompson led the way for the Gyrenes, putting up a career-high 25 points.

New College hung in the game for most of the first quarter, but Ave Maria was able to get some separation in the opening 10 minutes and build up a lead. The Gyrenes drained eight shots from the field, two from behind the arc. The threes were from Thompson and Mary Smith, the latter giving of which put Ave Maria up by multiple possessions near the end of the frame. New College got a layup back, but the Gyrenes still led by four heading into the second.

The Gyrenes continued to expand the lead in the second quarter, even getting up to eight points, but a New College run knotted the score right back up at 25 with four minutes left to play in the half. Ave Maria closed the quarter strong, hitting three of their last four shots to take a 32-29 lead into halftime.

Both teams played even basketball out of the break in the third quarter, scoring 17 points each. The Gyrenes led the entire 10 minutes of the frame, but New College hung in and kept applying pressure. Ave Maria's largest lead of the quarter was a nine-point lead, but a 5-0 run from the Mighty Banyans in the final minute brought the lead back down to just three.

The fourth quarter was when Ave Maria put the Mighty Banyans away. Like the third quarter, the Gyrenes went on a bit of a run in the early parts of the frame and got back up to a nine-point lead, but again New College got back with one. What finally did the trick was a second run from the Gyrenes, going on an 8-0 stretch to get back up 65-56. AMU hit all of their free throws at the end of the game to secure the 96-62 win.

With the win, Ave Maria is back even in conference play at 5-5 and is 9-12 overall. The Gyrenes are holding strong at fifth in conference, two wins over Coastal Georgia.

Thompson led the team in scoring with a career-high 25 points, passing her previous high of 17 set earlier this season. She hit three of the five three-pointers for Ave Maria Wednesday and in total went 9-for-14 from the floor. Colleen Shanahan was the only other Gyrene in double digits putting up 15 points.

Ave Maria is back home Saturday, February 8, when they play host to the Florida Memorial Lions. FMU is currently in first place in the conference with a 9-1 record and is 16-2 overall. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.