University of St. Thomas Athletics
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Whitman
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Tough start for W. Hoops; Live video here
11/15/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
No. 5-ranked St. Thomas women's basketball opens its 2013-14 season Friday and Saturday with night games in Spokane, Wash., against two NCAA playoff teams of last winter -- No. 11-ranked Whitman and Whitworth.
Friday's game against Whitman is a 5 p.m. local start (7 p.m. Minnesota time), while Saturday's Whitworth game has a 6 p.m. local (8 p.m. Minnesota) tipoff time.
Both games will have live stats:
http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/Basketball/livestats/xlive.htm
and live video: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/whitworth.portal#
Whitman returns four starters and all but two seniors from a 23-6 team that reached the NCAA Elite 8 last winter. Whitworth won its conference playoff title as the No. 3 seed last year to reach the NCAA playoffs in a 21-7 finish but graduated three starters.
Toms Top MIAC Poll
St. Thomas received all 11 outside first-place votes and were tabbed for first place in MIAC Coaches' preseason poll released on Thursday.
Coach Ruth Sinn's Tommies scored a 10-point exhibition victory on Nov. 6 against Division II St. Cloud State. They are ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll by D3hoops.com and 11th in the coaches' poll by USA Today.
UST graduated just one player -- point guard Kellie Ring -- from a 24-6 team that captured the conference playoff championship and won two NCAA playoff games.
The Tommies will again have the services of standout center Maggie Weiers, who sat out the final 29 games last season with an injury. But it appears that junior forward Jenna Dockter (11.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game last winter) will be sidelined for most or all of the season with an injury.
Senior All-America Taylor Young enters 2013-14 with 981 career points, good for 10th on the St. Thomas career scoring list, and 78 blocked shots, good for seventh on the career list. Young is a three-time All-MIAC honoree and two-time All-West recipient. She's helped St. Thomas to a 74-15 record in her three seasons.
The Tommies play next Thursday at UW-Stevens Point and start MIAC play Dec. 4 against Augsburg.
Click here for MIAC news release:
http://www.miacathletics.com/news_links/2013-14_previews/111413_WBB_2013-14_Preview
