CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. -- The Presidents opened and closed the game strong, but a 26-point differential in the second and third quarters sealed their fate in a 93-74 loss to No. 1 Thomas More in the Presidents' Athletic Conference women's basketball championship game.

The loss, Washington & Jefferson's third in the title PAC game to Thomas More over the last four seasons, drops W&J to 22-5 on the season, with three of those losses coming to the defending national champion Saints. W&J will now await its postseason fate when the NCAA Division III brackets are released Monday at 2:30 p.m. If the Presidents are unable to earn a Pool C (at-large) berth, a likely bid to the ECAC Division III South Tournament awaits. TMC clinches its 10th-straight PAC crown and earns the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament in improving to 27-0.

A 6-0 run over a two-minute stretch early gave W&J an 8-6 lead thanks to a pair of shots from Rachel Bellhy and two Taylor Cortazzo free throws. After the Saints tied the game, five-straight points from the Presidents extended the lead to 13-8, as the Red & Black maintained the lead throughout the rest of the quarter until TMC's Sydney Moss sank a free throw with four seconds left to end the first 10 minutes tied, 17-17.

Six points (two each from Beka Bellhy, Amirah Moore and Alyssa Riley) gave W&J a 23-17 lead 1:36 into the second period, but the Saints responded in a big way, rattling off a 19-0 run in just 2:33 to open up a 36-23 lead. Moss, the two-time defending Division III Player of the Year, scored nine points during the stretch. The spurt was stopped by jumper from Moore. The two teams traded free throws and the Saints scored the next six points as part of an overall run of 26-3. The two teams entered halftime with W&J trailing, 47-29.

The Presidents scored the first six points of the second half on a pair of buckets by Moore and a Rachel Bellhy basket, but again Thomas More used a run, this time 14-5, to extend the lead. The margin got as large as 29 points in the second half, but a 9-0 run from W&J late, which included a pair of three-pointers from Riley, allowed W&J to end the game with the 19-point loss, which marks the closest game against a PAC team for Thomas More this season.

TMC used advantages in points in the paint (40-18), points off turnovers (26-8) and second-chance points (21-4) to record the victory. The Saints pulled down 23 offensive rebounds and 47 total, while W&J grabbed just 36, 11 of which came from Beka Bellhy, who completed her ninth double-double of the season and third in the last four games with 14 points as well.

In the process this afternoon, Beka Bellhy moved into fourth place on the W&J career scoring list, ending the day at 1,528 career points, eight shy of tying Shawndra McDonald for third place. She also became just the third W&J women's basketball player to score 500-plus points in a season, joining Leigh Sulkowski (612 in 2005-06) and Chelsea Apke(512 in 2013-14).

Rachel Bellhy shot 8-of-13 from the field to score 18 points and Riley matched Beka's output at 14 points. Moore (13 points) joined the trio in double figures, plus tied for the game high with five assists.

Moss finished the day with 37 points on 13-of-29 shooting. She also added 13 rebounds.