St. Thomas welcomes in Chicago State for non-conference finale

St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Women's Basketball closes out its non-conference schedule Wednesday, Dec. 12 with a 7 p.m. tip-off against Chicago State at Schoenecker Arena.

The Last Time Out
Sophomore Jo Langbehn recorded her fourth career double-double Sunday afternoon as Wisconsin completed a comeback over St. Thomas Women's Basketball, 72-64. Langbehn led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Tommies fell to 4-5 overall.

The Badgers took a 10-4 lead to start the game before Sammy Opichka hit a 3-pointer and Langbehn put in her second basket of the game to cut the deficit to one. The Tommies tied the game at 14-14 but went down by six, 24-18, midway through the second quarter.

The Tommies went 7-of-11 from the field to close the first half and limited the Badgers to 0-4 from the floor with two turnovers. Maggie Negaard recorded five points of a 16-4 run to nab the first St. Thomas lead, 34-28.

Langbehn and Negaard hit back-to-back shots to start the second half and scored seven of the first eight points to take a game-high 10-point, 41-31 lead with 6:27 in the third quarter. St. Thomas finished the quarter 3-of-10 shooting as Wisconsin drew its deficit to three, 48-45, heading into the final quarter.

Wisconsin's run continued into the fourth quarter as it regained the lead, 50-48, with five straight points. St. Thomas closed the final 10 minutes shooting 50 percent from the field but gave away four turnovers and allowed Wisconsin to score 27 points during that span.

Langbehn went 9-of-13 shooting in 34 minutes off the bench and recorded her first double-double since the 2021-22 season finale, with five of her 10 rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Negaard followed in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting while Jade Hill scored 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Negaard led the team with five assists.

The Tommies shot 24-0f-57 from the floor and 7-of-18 from 3-point range while the Badgers made 24-of-28 from the charity stripe. St. Thomas won the rebound margin, 37-23, but gave away 17 turnovers that led to 20 points for Wisconsin.

Scouting Chicago State
The Cougars are 0-12 overall after taking a 105-54 loss to Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 12 at Williams Arena.

Tae'lor Willard leads the Cougars with 12.0 points per game followed by Janiah Newell with 10.6, the only two student-athletes with double digit scoring. Willard shoots a team best 49.1 percent from the field and recorded 22 points Nov. 14 versus UIC.

Chicago State averages 55.0 points per game on 33.6 percent shooting. The Cougars are being outrebounded by a 9.2 margin and give away 22.2 turnovers per game.

Series History
St. Thomas and Chicago State have played once all-time, a 62-57 win by the Tommies on Dec. 4, 2021 in Chicago, Ill.

Jordyn Glynn and Jade Hill each led all Tommie returners with 11 points against the Cougars, which set a career high for Glynn. She added a team-high six assists, over half of the team's total. Chicago State gave away 18 turnovers that led to 23 points for St. Thomas.

The Efficient Duo
Jo Langbehn and Sammy Opichka rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Summit League in field goal percentage. Langbehn leads the Tommies shooting 54.8 percent from the field and Opichka follows shooting 53.8 percent.

Go Hard in the Paint
Sophomore Jo Langbehn recorded a career-high 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds Sunday, Dec. 11 at Wisconsin to mark her fourth career double-double. She sank 9-of-13 from the field while five of her rebounds came on the offensive end. Langbehn was two rebounds shy of her career high and totaled nearly one-third of her season rebound total on Sunday.

Langbehn has now recorded a career high in scoring during two of the last three games. Her previous career high entering the season was 12 points, recorded twice in 2021-22, before she scored 14 on Dec. 3 at Idaho State.

Sammy 2-O
Sophomore Sammy Opichka went off for a career-high 20 points Nov. 15 at Illinois State before topping it with 25 points Dec. 8 versus Purdue Fort Wayne. She was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line against ISU. She also recorded career highs of 12 rebounds and three steals against PFW, marking the first double-double of her career and the first for St. Thomas since the 2021-22 season finale.

This is the first instance of a Tommie recording at least 25 points and 12 rebounds in a game since Brynne Rolland recorded 30 points and 13 rebounds Jan. 22, 2020 against Bethel. It's also the first time a Tommie went at least 6-of-6 from the field since Langbehn went 6-of-6 against Oral Roberts on Feb. 5, 2022.

Opichka's two 20-point games this season match her entire scoring output from the 2021-22 season. She totaled 45 points as a freshman and is now second on the team and 17th in the Summit League with 10.2 points per game this season.

Running Point
Sophomore Jade Hill has scored in double digits in all but one game this season and led the Tommies in scoring two times. She tied a career-high 24 points during the Nov. 19 win over Presbyterian and set a season-high six assists Nov. 15 at Illinois State. Hill has led the team in assists in six of nine games.

Hill is tied for second in the Summit League with 2.4 steals per game and is ninth with 13.3 points per game.

Hill played the most minutes per game of any women's freshman player in DI hoops in 2021-22. Hill averaged 36.15 minutes over 28 games. (Only one freshman DI men's player, Trey Townsend of Oakland at 36.24, had a higher per-game average.) Hill also led the entire Summit League in minutes per game.

A Pair of Overtimes
St. Thomas recorded its first instance of two overtimes games over a three-game stretch with losses at UIC and Idaho State. It's the first instance of two overtimes in three games since 2002-03, going to overtime against Concordia (Minn.) in an 80-77 win and against Macalester in a 67-59 loss.

The Tommies went to overtime twice in 2021-22 and played in overtime twice from 2018-20.

Good Defense, Bad Result
St. Thomas' loss at Idaho State is the first of the season when limiting its opponent to less than 40 percent shooting from the field. The Tommies held the Bengals to 4-22 from the field in the first half and 21-61 in the game.

Where Are My Upperclassmen At?
Graduate student Autam Mendez, and seniors Jordyn Glynn and Maggie Negaard are the only three upperclassmen on the team. The 2022-23 Tommies are comprised of three upperclassmen, eight sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen.

Glynn is the only member of the team who was with the program during its NCAA DIII days. She played in 23 games during the 2019-21 seasons and 24 games with 17 starts last season to average 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 points per game. Glynn is averaging 3.7 rebounds per game this season.

Negaard played her first season with the Tommies in 2021-22 after playing in 78 games with nine starts at Drake. She made 24 starts in 27 games played and averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest last year. This season, Negaard has led the Tommies in scoring once, totaling 15 points in the win over South Carolina State.

Mendez makes her Tommie debut this season after playing at San Jose State from 2020-22, including 26 games last season, and at North Iowa Area Community College from 2018-20. Mendez has hit at least one 3-pointer in three of the last four games.

Keep It Inside the Arc
St. Thomas has yet to allow an opponent to shoot over 33.3 percent from 3-point range in a game this season. The Tommies rank 14th in the nation in 3-point field goal defense, allowing their opponents to shoot 23.5 percent from long range. The Purple have outshot their opponents from beyond the arc in seven of nine games.

Improving the Non-Conference Win Total
Heading into the final non-conference game of the season, St. Thomas has already improved its win total in such games. The Tommies finished with three non-conference wins in 2021-22 and can end the 2022-23 non-conference slate at five with a win over Chicago State. St. Thomas is currently three wins shy of its overall win total from a year ago.

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St. Thomas welcomes in Chicago State for non-conference finale

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Players Mentioned

Jordyn Glynn

Jade Hill

Jo Langbehn

Autam Mendez

Maggie Negaard

Sammy Opichka

University of St. Thomas Athletics