MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – In The Sun Conference 2012 Women's Basketball Championship Presented by Shula's Hotel and Golf Club finals, no. 1 seed Ave Maria (29-4, 14-1) defeated no. 2 seed St. Thomas (24-7, 13-3), 63-52, at the Fernandez Family Center on Saturday afternoon.

Ave Maria was led by senior forward Sandy Jenkins, the 2012 Conference Player of the Year and tournament MVP, with a double-double 22 points and 10 rebounds.  Sophomore guard Cassie Kreiger had 15 points on three three-pointers plus four assists. 

St. Thomas junior forward Constina Cousins,a second-team All-Conference selection, led the Bobcats with 16 points and 12 rebounds.  It was the ninth double-double of the year and her 16 points put her over the 1,000 career scoring mark as she now sits at 1,006 points as a collegian.

In the final game at the Fernandez Center, senior Nickerline Montina scored 14  pts with eight rebounds, while senior Maddie Cummings scored 13 points with five rebounds.

St. Thomas led 11-10 with 14:18 remaining in the first, but would trail the rest of the way. The Gyrenes stretched the lead to 12 points with 5:53 left before halftime and went into the break with a 33-24 lead.  St. Thomas battled back in the second half cutting the lead to one point, 48-47, on a three-pointer by Cummings with 6:52 left.  AMU denied STU's run and finished the game on a 15-5 run to end the game.
  
The Sun Conference all-tournament team consisted of Jenkins, Kreiger, and junior forward Amy Myler from Ave Maria.  St. Thomas was represented on the all-tournament team by Montina and Cousins.