Women’s Basketball welcomes in Kansas City and Omaha to Schoenecker Arena

St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Women's Basketball is set to host Kansas City Jan. 12 and Oral Roberts Jan. 14 to begin a three-game home stand at Schoenecker Arena. The Tommies are searching for their first Summit League win while facing the both the Roos and Golden Eagles for the third time ever.

The Last Time Out
St. Thomas was handed losses Jan. 5 at Denver, 66-60, and Jan. 7 at Omaha, 80-77 in overtime, as it fell to 5-11 overall and 0-6 in the Summit League. The Tommies held leads over both in the second half before being outscored 42-34 in the fourth quarter and overtime combined through both games.

Senior Maggie Negaard started and ended hot from the floor Thursday night despite a 66-60 loss at Denver. Negaard scored the first five points and the final eight points for the Tommies and led all scorers with 17 points, one shy of a career high.

St. Thomas began the game on a 10-3 run but was held scoreless over the final 4:15 of the quarter, taking a 10-9 lead into the second. Both teams traded leads five times through the first five minutes of the quarter while four of the final five field goals of the first half came from 3-point range, including one for Denver with eight seconds to play for a 29-27 halftime lead.

Both teams made six field goals during the third quarter, but the Tommies failed to sink a 3-pointer after knocking down five in the first half. The Pioneers went on a 9-2 run into the fourth quarter, leading to a game-high 12-point, 62-50 lead.

Negaard shot 7-of-12 from the field with three 3-pointers, three rebounds and three assists. Opichka followed with 12 points while Jordyn Lamker scored eight points with team highs and career highs of nine rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

The Tommies shot 40.7 percent from the field (24-59) and 30.4 percent from 3-point range (7-23) while the Pioneers shot 42.6 percent from the floor (23-54) and 41.9 percent from long range (13-31). St. Thomas won the rebound margin, 38-27, but allowed Denver to score 14 points off 13 turnovers.

The senior duo of Jordyn Glynn and Negaard posted career scoring days during an 80-77 overtime loss at Omaha on Saturday afternoon.

Negaard finished with a team-high 19 points while Glynn scored 13, both setting career highs. Glynn and Negaard's 3-point shooting set up a thriller that featured 11 lead changes.

The Tommies sank eight field goals in both the first and second quarters, the most shots made in a quarter for the Purple through the Summit League's first six games. The Mavericks nearly matched the Tommies' first half total with 15 field goals as St. Thomas held a 44-39 lead at halftime.

Omaha came out with a 5-0 run to tie the game before another run of 7-0 gave it its first lead of the game, 53-51, at 3:03 in the third quarter. Negaard made back-to-back 3-pointers for St. Thomas to regain the lead, one of three lead changes over the final three minutes.

The fourth quarter featured four lead changes through the first six minutes. Faith Feuerbach made two 3-pointers during that span, both times giving the Tommies a lead again. Omaha finished regulation on a 6-2 run to tie the game while a 3-pointer by Feuerbach missed to move to overtime.

Glynn put in a second-chance layup to begin overtime and score the final Tommie points of the game. The Purple finished the quarter 0-of-5 shooting from the field, including a last second 3-point heave by Negaard.

Hill followed Negaard in scoring with 16 points, her most since scoring a season-high 24 points Nov. 19. Langbehn also scored in double figures with 12 points, while adding seven rebounds. Langbehn tied with Glynn and Negaard for the team lead in rebounds.

Scouting Kansas City
The Roos are 5-11 overall and 1-4 in the Summit League after taking its first conference win of the season Jan. 7 over Oral Roberts, 65-54, in Kansas City, Mo.

E'Lease Stafford leads the Roos with 17.0 points per game followed by Sanaa' St. Andre with 16.3 points, both of which rank fourth and fifth in the Summit League, respectively. Dani Winslow leads the league and is 11th in the nation with 11.1 rebounds per game and recorded a season-high 24 rebounds Nov. 11 versus Tennessee State.

Kansas City averages 63.6 points per game and allows 72.2 points while shooting 38.7 percent from the field. The Roos are 19th in the country with 5.2 blocks per game, 58th with 13.8 offensive rebounds per game and 79th with 9.4 steals per game.

Series History vs. Kansas City
St. Thomas and Kansas City have met twice all-time as UMKC took a sweep during the 2021-22 season series. The Roos won the first ever meeting, 62-57, on Feb. 3, 2022 in St. Paul before another win of 69-53 on Feb. 14, 2022 in Kansas City, Mo.

Jade Hill averaged 15.5 points per game against UMKC, including a 22-point effort Feb. 3. She hit 10-of-15 shooting and dished out five assists in the game. Negaard led all Tommie returners with 6.0 rebounds per game.

Scouting Oral Roberts
The Golden Eagles begin the week 5-11 overall and 2-3 in the Summit League after falling to Kansas City, 65-54, on Jan. 7 in Kansas City.

ORU is led by three-time Summit League Player of the Week Hannah Cooper, who leads the conference and is 22nd in the nation with 19.7 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting. She is 10th in the country with 85 free throws made while Tirzah Moore leads the team and is 13th in the nation with 10.8 rebounds per game. Moore is second on the team with 13.4 points per game. In total four players average double digit scoring for the Golden Eagles.

Oral Roberts averages a Summit League-best 74.0 points per game and allows 81.2 points while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from 3-point range. ORU is 20th in the country shooting 77.5 percent from the free throw line.

Series History vs. Oral Roberts
St. Thomas and Oral Roberts have played twice all-time, both wins by ORU during the 2021-22 season. The Golden Eagles won the first-ever meeting, 72-44, Jan. 17, 2022 in Tulsa, Okla., before another win of 73-67 on Feb. 5, 2022 in St. Paul.

Jade Hill scored a career high 27 points during the Feb. 5 meeting, one of her four 20-point games during the season. Jo Langbehn added her second career double-double during that game with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Efficient Duo
Jo Langbehn and Sammy Opichka rank third and ninth, respectively, in the Summit League in field goal percentage. Langbehn leads the Tommies shooting 58.1 percent from the field and Opichka follows shooting 49.6 percent. Maggie Negaard follows shooting 43.5 percent, which ranks 15th in the league.

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, set twice in 2021-22.

After entering the 2022-23 season with a single-game career-high of 12 points, Langbehn topped that mark in three of a four-game stretch. She set a new mark of 14 points Dec. 3 at Idaho State before scoring 21 points at Wisconsin and following up with another 20-point effort Dec. 14 against Chicago State. Langbehn is fourth for St. Thomas with 9.3 points per game. She is six points shy of totaling her scoring output last season.

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 third on the team with 9.6 points per game this season.

Running Point
Sophomore Jade Hill scored in double digits during eight of the first nine games this season and led the Tommies in scoring two times. She scored a season-high 24 points during the Nov. 19 win over Presbyterian and set a season-high six assists Nov. 15 at Illinois State. Hill scored 16 points Jan. 7 at Omaha to snap a six-game streak failing to reach double digits. Previous to that streak, she had never recorded back-to-back single digit scoring games in her Tommie career.

Hill is tied for fourth in the Summit League with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio, tied for sixth with 3.6 assists, tied for eighth with 1.8 steals, and is 17th with 10.7 points per game.

Behind the Arc
After going the first 14 games without allowing an opponent to shoot over 36.8 percent from 3-point range, the Tommies allowed back-to-back opponents to shoot over 40 percent. Denver sank 13 3-pointers on Jan. 5, the most St. Thomas has allowed since Northern Iowa put in 16 on Dec. 1, 2021.

Maggie Negaard leads the Summit League and is tied for 26th in the nation shooting 44.6 percent from long range. Her 2.1 3-pointers per game is tied for third in the conference and has helped her to lead the Tommies in scoring over the last three games. She set a new career high with 19 points Saturday, Jan. 7 at Omaha.

Bad Luck Overtimes
St. Thomas played in its third overtime game of the season at Omaha, the first season with three overtime games for the program since the 2009-10 season. The Tommies went 2-1 in those games and has lost in all three such games this season. St. Thomas' overtime losses came Nov. 27 at UIC, 75-71, Dec. 3 at Idaho State, 58-54, and Jan. 7 at Omaha, 80-77.

Non-Conference Improvement
St. Thomas improved its non-conference win total from last year by two victories. The Tommies went 5-5 this season after going 3-7 in non-conference games last season. The Purple are currently two wins shy of its overall win total from 2021-22.

The Tommies saw a bump in field goal percentage (.395 to .416), 3-point field goal percentage (.304 to .311), rebounds per game (33.6 to 35.9), assists per game (12.4 to 14.6) and points per game (61.1 to 63.4).

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Women’s Basketball welcomes in Kansas City and Omaha to Schoenecker Arena

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Players Mentioned

Faith Feuerbach

Jordyn Glynn

Jade Hill

Jordyn Lamker

Jo Langbehn

Maggie Negaard

Sammy Opichka

University of St. Thomas Athletics