University of St. Thomas Athletics
Northern Iowa
Game Notes - St. Thomas Women’s Basketball returns to Schoenecker Arena to host Northern Iowa before taking to the road to face Chicago State
11/30/2021 3:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
St. Paul, Minn. –
Coming and Going
St. Thomas Women's Basketball hosts the University of Northern Iowa on Wednesday night in just its second home game of the 2021-22 season before continuing its road schedule at Chicago State.
Most recently, the Purple competed in the Holiday Beach Classic hosted by Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. - The Tommies fell to the host school, 63-51 on Friday, the opening day of the tournament and dropped an 81-54 decision against North Texas on the second day of the tournament.
Through the first six games of the season, St. Thomas has two players, freshman G Jade Hill and grad student F Erin Norling each averaging 11.7 points per game.
University of Northern Iowa Info
The Panthers are one of the Top 50 teams in the nation after the first month of play in assist to turnover ratio. UNI ranks 49th out of 348 Division 1 teams with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.09. That puts the Panthers at 2nd in the conference behind only the Bradley Braves.
UNI had its best second quarter of the season so far this Saturday against the Creighton Bluejays. UNI scored 26 points in the quarter while shooting 56% from the floor, 50% from 3-point range, and 87% from the free throw line.
In the Panther's lone game of the week, senior guard Karli Rucker led the way offensively with 20 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. Rucker also led the Panthers in minutes on the floor with 38 following a 72-79 loss to the Creighton Bluejays. Rucker was perfect from outside the arc for UNI on Saturday with two 3-point shots falling in the 2nd quarter. She was last 100% from 3-point range against Missouri State on January 15th of 2021.
Chicago State Snippets
A week after the Cougars earned the program's first win since Jan. 18, 2020, taking down Wisconsin, 71-63 in an overtime thriller in Madison, the Cougars fell in back-to-back games at the Florida International University Thanksgiving Tournament. The Cougars fell, 64-46, to FIU on Saturday then to Delaware, 72-63, on Saturday. Aaliyah Collins, after winning WAC Freshman of the Week, scored 20 and 19 points, respectively.
Only three players from last season's roster return for Sardin's bunch: Christina Britter, Ana Haklicka and Laura Segues. Sardin has added two assistant coaches, Tiffany Conner and Diana Martinez, two freshman, Taylor Norris and Aaliyah Collins, and six transfers: Quentarra Mitchell, Nafa Haidara, Kyjai Miles, Janiah Newell, Jazmine Covington and Allysah "Cookie" Boothe.
Tommie Leader
Head coach Ruth Sinn starts her 17th season at St. Thomas in 2021-22. Her overall record of 356-88 in Division III included a per-season average slate of 27-4 over the last nine full seasons.
Sinn returned three starters from a 6-1 team in a shortened 2020-21 season. St. Thomas finished 21-6 in 2019-20, just after a senior-led Tommie team in 2018-19 reached the D-III Final Four with a 30-2 finish.
Second-Quarter Strong
St. Thomas has been playing its best ball in the second quarter of games. The Purple has scored 107 points in the second quarter of their games this season, averaging 17.8 points per second quarter.
The Tommies' opponents have scored 109 points in the second quarter of their first six games of the season and average 18.1 points per second quarter.
Super-Senior Leadership
Grad Student F Kaia Porter ranks third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.8 points per game. Porter leads the team in three-point attempts and three-point makes, connecting on 11-of-33 attempts on the season from behind the arc. Porter also averages 4.2 rebounds per game and has dished out 10 assists through the first six games of the season.
Schedule Talk
The Toms have six November contests, including four on the road and one on a neutral court. They are scheduled to play six of seven December games at home. They open Summit League play here in Schoenecker Arena on Dec. 20 and 22 against Omaha and Denver.
Did You Know?
St. Thomas is scheduled to play games in 10 different states and all four time zones this season with trips to Wisconsin, Illinois, California, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota and North Dakota.
Tommie Opponents' Last Season W-L
St. Thomas will play 18 games against its nine Summit League foes and nine other non-conference games against D-I opponents. Here's what those 18 teams did last season for won-loss records:
Wisconsin (5-19)
Illinois State (16-9)
South Carolina State (1-9)
Presbyterian (11-10)
Cal Poly (13-11)
North Texas (13-7)
Northern Iowa (17-13)
Chicago State (0-14)
Idaho State (22-4)
Omaha (7-13)
Denver (7-16)
Western Illinois (8-16)
Oral Roberts (6-15)
Kansas City (10-12)
North Dakota State (15-9)
North Dakota (2-19)
South Dakota State (21-4)
South Dakota (19-6)
Family Ties
Freshman guard Jade Hill is the younger sister of WNBA player and former Ohio State standout Tayler Hill.
Freshman forward Jordyn Lamker is the daughter of Tommie All-America WBB player Amy Bot and daughter of Augsburg University head football coach Darrin Lamker.
Transfer forward Maggie Negaard is the younger sister of former St. Thomas swimmer Tom Negaard, a nine-time conference championin relays and individual races here from 2015-19. Their grandfather Jack played basketball at Drake (1949-50).
Tommie Returning Starters
Grad student Kaia Porter: 5-11 G-F… in 71 games over parts of four seasons in D-III she had 716 points, 278 rebounds and 147 assists; started as a sophomore on Tommies' 30-2 Final Four team.… career highs include 23 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals
Senior Noelle Tomes: 5-8 G… Played in 24 games and scored 188 points thus far with Toms… spent five semesters playing at Division I Air Force, joined St. Thomas in late December 2019… Tommie career highs include 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.
Sophomore Katelyn Stanley: 5-8 G… Started in all seven games as a freshman; scored 58 points, 21 assists, and secured 43 rebounds; shot 89% from the foul line and hit 10 3-pointers... career highs include 14 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.
Other Returning Letter Winners:
Junior Jordyn Glynn: 5-9 G… played in 23 games and scored 33 points
Junior Abby Mackenthun: 5-11 F… played in 34 games and has recorded 156 points, 48 assists, 166 rebounds
Sophomore Kate Burns: 6-2 C… played in five of team's seven games, scored 30 points
Sophomore Brynn Schwanz: 6-0 F… missed 2020-21 season with an injury
Newcomers:
Grad Student Transfer Erin Norling: 5-11 F, Loretto, Minn., Delano HS, Wayne State University… played four years at D-II Wayne State; recorded 1,597 career points, scored in double figures in 84 games, 4X all-conference, and twice voted onto the elite CoSIDA Academic All-America team… in 2020-21 was voted Northern Sun Conference South Division Player of the Year... led team in scoring (16.3) and rebounding (6.8), ranking fourth in the NSIC in scoring and eighth in rebounding.
Transfer Amanda Pollard: 5-9 G, Sr., Champlin, Minn., Wagner College… 37 games (two starts) at Wagner
Transfer Maggie Negaard: 5-10 G, Sr., Stevens Point, Wis., Drake University… played in 78 games at Drake
Freshman Jade Hill: 5-6 G, Minneapolis, Minn., South HS
Freshman Gabby Johnson: 5-8 G, Freedom, Wis.
Freshman Jordyn Lamker: 6-0 F, Maple Grove, Minn.
Freshman Phoebe Frentzel: 5-9 G, Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead HS
Freshman Sammy Opichka: 6-0 F, Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame
Freshman Jo Langbehn: 6-2 C, Elk River, Minn.
Freshman Audrey Hatfield: 6-2 C, Hudson, Wis.
Unprecedented Move
St. Thomas is the first NCAA institution to move all of its athletics teams directly from Division III to D-I in one season.
Tommie teams have begun competing in four conferences across all 21 sports, with 31 different universities as
fellow conference mates:
• The Summit League (18 sports);
• Pioneer Football League;
• Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) for women's hockey;
• Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) for men's hockey.
Division III Era and Tradition
• 1 NCAA championship (1991)
• 7 NCAA Final Fours (three in eight-year span from 2012-2019)
• 32 postseason appearances in last 33 full seasons
• 27 MIAC championships (18 regular-season)
• 30-win seasons four times in nine years (2012-2020)
• 26 NCAA playoff appearances (55 wins)
• 22 All-America honors since 1980
• 77-game conference win streak ended in Dec. 2019
• 5 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
• 9 of the last 21 MIAC Player of the Year honors
• 5 of the 13 MIAC Coach of the Year honors
• Kaitlin Langer 2017 National Player of the Year
