University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, February 19
St. Paul, Minn.
1:00 p.m.
6-20,3-13Summit League
42
vs
83
South Dakota State
19-8,15-1Summit League
1
2
3
4
F
South Dakota St.
15
22
21
25
83
St. Thomas (MN)
12
10
12
8
42
Team Stats
SDSU
UST
FG%
.508
.333
3FG%
.476
.222
FT%
.563
.667
RB
41
22
TO
9
18
STL
9
2
Game Leaders
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
Photo by: Wesley Dean
Women's Basketball falls to South Dakota State, 83-42
2/19/2022 2:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball
St. Paul, Minn. - St. Thomas women's basketball (6-20, 3-13 Summit League) suffered an 83-42 defeat to South Dakota State (19-8, 15-1 Summit League) at home on Saturday.
Freshman guard Jade Hill led the Tommies with 11 points scored. Graduate forward Erin Norling brought in six rebounds to pace the team while Sammy Opichka dished out a squad-best three assists. Opichka also finished with two blocked shots and a steal. Hill shot seven of the team's nine free throws, successfully making five.
The Jackrabbits made strong work on the offensive board, totaling four second-chance boards in just the first five minutes of the opening period. Entering the first media stoppage of the quarter, the Purple trailed 11-3 to the Jacks. Senior Maggie Negaard hit a trey off of a Norling assist to trim the South Dakota State lead to five. Across the final 2:14, freshman Jo Langbehn tallied four points to the St. Thomas cause.
Entering the second period down three points, 15-12, Norling tied the game at 18-18 on a three in front of the SDSU bench. Helped by Tommie fouls, South Dakota State retook the lead and expanded it to nine points entering the under-five media timeout, 27-18. The Toms were limited to 40.0 percent shooting in the second period and allowed 14 Jackrabbit points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Down by 15 points at the half, the Jacks would buoy the lead to 24 in the first three minutes of the third period, forcing the Tommies to call a timeout. Opichka scored the team's first points of the second half on a jumper at the 8:39 mark. Hill picked up her sixth point of the quarter on a jump shot with 3:45 remaining in the quarter, giving her 11 total points.
The Tommies were outscored, 25-8, over the final 10 minutes. The Tommies shot 21.4 percent in the final period of play, and made one of their four three-point shot attempts. In the game, St. Thomas was doubled up on points in the paint, 44-20.
"South Dakota State is a phenomenal offensive team," Coach Ruth Sinn said. "We knew we had our hands full coming into this game. Our goal was to make sure we made them work, and at times I thought we defended them well and made them work. Hats off to them. They have so many different weapons and so many different ways to attack you.
"Our young ladies, I'm so proud of them, every single day no matter who we are playing. This week we had to play the top three teams in the conference because of the (Monday) reschedule. Not one (of our players) has their head down. They are looking for opportunities. Everyone talks about the old mantra 'I win, or I learn,' this group embodies (that philosophy). You saw that out there. They are positive, pouring into each other, and we're learning. They are making each other better. We are growing."
As the Tommies celebrated Senior Day with two players in the final home games, Sinn singled out the leadership and unselfish nature of fifth-year players Norling and Kaia Porter.
"They are wonderful examples of what we are looking to build in the future and what our past has been about. Erin came here, and one of the big things she said was 'I have had the accolades. I've been NSIC Player of the Year. It's not about that, it's about coming to a true team.' Kaia gives of herself unconditionally to everyone. They are exactly the type of people that we needed for this first year, to really lay the foundation that this is more than just basketball, but it's how we live this journey together."
The Purple will close out the regular season with road games at Denver and Omaha. The team's contest at the Pioneers is set to tip-off on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. CST.
Freshman guard Jade Hill led the Tommies with 11 points scored. Graduate forward Erin Norling brought in six rebounds to pace the team while Sammy Opichka dished out a squad-best three assists. Opichka also finished with two blocked shots and a steal. Hill shot seven of the team's nine free throws, successfully making five.
The Jackrabbits made strong work on the offensive board, totaling four second-chance boards in just the first five minutes of the opening period. Entering the first media stoppage of the quarter, the Purple trailed 11-3 to the Jacks. Senior Maggie Negaard hit a trey off of a Norling assist to trim the South Dakota State lead to five. Across the final 2:14, freshman Jo Langbehn tallied four points to the St. Thomas cause.
Entering the second period down three points, 15-12, Norling tied the game at 18-18 on a three in front of the SDSU bench. Helped by Tommie fouls, South Dakota State retook the lead and expanded it to nine points entering the under-five media timeout, 27-18. The Toms were limited to 40.0 percent shooting in the second period and allowed 14 Jackrabbit points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Down by 15 points at the half, the Jacks would buoy the lead to 24 in the first three minutes of the third period, forcing the Tommies to call a timeout. Opichka scored the team's first points of the second half on a jumper at the 8:39 mark. Hill picked up her sixth point of the quarter on a jump shot with 3:45 remaining in the quarter, giving her 11 total points.
The Tommies were outscored, 25-8, over the final 10 minutes. The Tommies shot 21.4 percent in the final period of play, and made one of their four three-point shot attempts. In the game, St. Thomas was doubled up on points in the paint, 44-20.
"South Dakota State is a phenomenal offensive team," Coach Ruth Sinn said. "We knew we had our hands full coming into this game. Our goal was to make sure we made them work, and at times I thought we defended them well and made them work. Hats off to them. They have so many different weapons and so many different ways to attack you.
"Our young ladies, I'm so proud of them, every single day no matter who we are playing. This week we had to play the top three teams in the conference because of the (Monday) reschedule. Not one (of our players) has their head down. They are looking for opportunities. Everyone talks about the old mantra 'I win, or I learn,' this group embodies (that philosophy). You saw that out there. They are positive, pouring into each other, and we're learning. They are making each other better. We are growing."
As the Tommies celebrated Senior Day with two players in the final home games, Sinn singled out the leadership and unselfish nature of fifth-year players Norling and Kaia Porter.
"They are wonderful examples of what we are looking to build in the future and what our past has been about. Erin came here, and one of the big things she said was 'I have had the accolades. I've been NSIC Player of the Year. It's not about that, it's about coming to a true team.' Kaia gives of herself unconditionally to everyone. They are exactly the type of people that we needed for this first year, to really lay the foundation that this is more than just basketball, but it's how we live this journey together."
The Purple will close out the regular season with road games at Denver and Omaha. The team's contest at the Pioneers is set to tip-off on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. CST.
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