University of St. Thomas Athletics
Wisconsin
Tommies host Wisconsin Badgers in Wednesday tilt
12/12/2023 9:01:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It's officially "Beat Wisconsin" week for the University of St. Thomas women's basketball. After three consecutive games on the road, the Tommies return home for a big match up, as they host the University of Wisconsin in their second Power 5 home game of 2023-24.
St. Thomas, which hosed Iowa State in late November, returns to Schoenecker Arena riding a two-game road win streak, with victories over Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend. In those two games, the Tommies held their opponents to 65 and 59 points and returned three key players to their line up. The Badgers, meanwhile, are looking to recover after back-to-back losses to Butler (59-51) and #4 Iowa (87-65), though this will be just their second official road game of 2023-24. Wisconsin is 1-2 away from the Kohl Center, though only a 75-57 loss at Kansas State counted as a true road loss. The other two games were played at a tournament in Fort Myers, where the Badgers lost to Arkansas by three points and rebounded with an 82-72 win over Boston College.
Tip off between St. Thomas and Wisconsin is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tickets are still available for purchase online at www.tommiesports.com/tickets, and fans who cannot attend the game in person can follow along on the Summit League Network. The home of all Summit League action, the Summit League Network is a subscription-based platform with costs $9.99 per most or $79.99 for an annual plan. The fee provides fans and alumni with the opportunity to watch St. Thomas from a variety of devices through the Midco Sports Plus app, including phones, tablets, TVs, and web-based browser interference. Additionally, the app and its exclusive Summit League content will be available on AppleTV, Fire TV and Roku, allowing fans to sign in and watch through their account on multiple devices. Fans can subscribe at www.midcosportsplus.com.
Tommie Tidbits:
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas has seemingly found its stride in the last few games. The Tommies return home after winning back-to-back road games over the weekend, getting back to .500 with a 5-5 record this season. After earning a thrilling 67-65 win over Milwaukee on Thursday, St. Thomas defeated Purdue Fort Wayne 64-59, improving to 5-0 when holding an opponent to under 70 points. Despite leading for the first three quarters, the Tommies watched their lead over the Mastodons slip away in the fourth, as their hosts went on a 7-0 run to take a 51-45 lead. St. Thomas slowly but surely chipped away at Purdue Fort Wayne's lead and outscored the Mastodons 10-2 in the final two minutes of play. Amber Scalia hit the game-tying three with 2:15 remaining in regulation, and that was all she wrote for Purdue Fort Wayne, as St. Thomas closed out the 64-59 win at the free throw line.
TUNE IN: Basketball fans can follow the Tommies on their new streaming home, the Summit League Network, fueled by Midco Sports and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas basketball games along with exclusive Tommie and Summit League content. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com.
THE OPPOSITION: Wisconsin is off to its best start in the Marisa Moseley era. The Badgers rattled off three wins to open the 2023-24 season, defeating Milwaukee (62-51), Western Illinois (74-52) and South Dakota State (66-64) for their first 3-0 start since 2018-19. Serah Williams has played a key role in Wisconsin's hot start to 2023-24, averaging 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. Ronnie Porter and Sania Copeland are also having fantastic seasons for the Badgers, as both are averaging over 10.0 points per game with Porter leading the team in both assists (35) and steals (25). Wisconsin's defense has also played a big role in its success, as they are holding opponents to 64.3 points per game on .359 shooting, including a .308 field goal percentage from beyond the arc.
JUST CLICKED: After surrendering 80+ points in back-to-back games, something clicked with the Tommies defense this past week. St. Thomas held Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne to 124 points and improved to 5-0 when holding a team to under 70 points in a game. The Tommies additionally recorded a combined nine blocks over the weekend, their most in back-to-back games this season, and tallied 13 steals compared to their opponents nine.
LUCKY #10: The duo of Amber Scalia and Jade Hill has been lethal for St. Thomas this season. In addition to averaging roughly 15.0 points per game apiece, they are the first ever duo in the Division I era to score 10+ points in 10 consecutive games to open a season. The last time any Tommie duo scored 10+ points for at least five consecutive games to open a season happened in 2018-19, when Kaia Porter and Hannah Spaulding did it over a six game span.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Tommies have spent a lot of time on the road in recent weeks. St. Thomas has played seven games since November 19 and all but one has been played away from home. Thanks to lat week's wins, the Tommies are 3-3 in that six game stretch with wins over Saint Mary's (Calif.), Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne. St. Thomas' overall road record now reads at 3-2, as two of those games were played at neutral site venues. Currently this season, the Tommies are 2-1 at home, 3-2 on the road and 0-2 at neutral site venues.
800/100 CLUB: Junior guard Jade Hill has made a name for herself in just three seasons with St. Thomas. During the team's trip to California, Hill joined the 800/100 club, becoming the first Tommie student-athlete in the DI era to score 800 points and tally 100 steals with St. Thomas. Entering Wednesday's game against the Badgers, Hill owns 868 career points, averaging 12.8 per game throughout her Tommie career, and now has 113 steals. She additionally looks to eclipse the 300 career assists milestone this season with 246 total to her name.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Head coach Ruth Sinn won her 380th game as St. Thomas' head coach against the Mastodons, bringing her closer to the 400 career wins mark. Already the winningest coach in program history, Sinn surpassed Ted Riverso's previous record of 337 career wins in 2019-20 and looked to become the first coach in Tommie women's basketball history to win 400 games with the program. Additionally, Sinn would join former St. Thomas men's basketball coach and athletic director Steve Fritz, current volleyball coach Thanh Pham, former baseball coach Dennis Denning and former softball coach John Tschida as the only head coaches in St. Thomas history with over 400 wins with their respective programs.
THIRD TIMES THE CHARM?: St. Thomas is looking for its first win against Wisconsin on Wednesday, as the team is 0-2 in two meetings with the Badgers. In their first ever Division I basketball game, the Tommies fell to Wisconsin by a final score of 67-51and could not close the deal last year in Madison. St. Thomas led the Badgers multiple times in the final quarter of play but could not close out the BIG 10 opponent. Hill, Jordyn Glynn and Jo Langbehn appeared in both games, with Hill starting in both games.
POWER 5 WELCOME: The Tommies will welcome a Power 5 opponent to Schoenecker Arena for the season time this season. St. Thomas took on Iowa State on November 29 in the first Power 5 home game for either Tommie basketball team. St. Thomas ultimately fell in the game 85-44, while Hill and Scalia led the team with 11 and 10 points respectively.
TERRIFIC TRIO: Scalia, Hill and Langbehn are proving to be a dangerous trio for St. Thomas. Entering Saturday's game, the Tommies were just 2-4 when the trio all scored over double digits in a single game. Thanks to their high-scoring performance on Saturday, where Langbehn went 6-6 from the floor, St. Thomas is now 3-4 when its top scorers all score 10+ points in a game with wins over Saint Mary's (Calif.), Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne. The Tommies are also undefeated when Scalia scores 20+ points in a game, improving to 3-0 thanks to Thursday's win over the Panthers.
AN APPLE A DAY: Things are looking up for St. Thomas thanks to the return of three key players: Angelina Hammond, Jordyn Lamker and Sammy Opichka. After missing chunks of the first month due to injury, the trio is back and made quite a statement in their first two games together. Since Opichka returned to the court against Milwaukee, the Tommies are 2-0 and holding opponents to 62.0 points per game, their best defensive shows of 2023-24. St. Thomas also improved to 2-1 with Hammond in the starting line up and 2-2 whem Lamker plays 15+ minutes in a game.
CHEESEHEADS: St. Thomas has found plenty of success against teams from the UW system, especially as a Division III team. The Tommies have played UW schools 26 times dating back to 2000-01 and hold an 18-8 record against their Wisconsin foes. St. Thomas has earned the most wins against UW-Stevens Point, a team it will face later this season, posting an 8-2 record in 10 meetings with the Pointers. However, the Tommies are 0-for all-time against two teams from the UW system: Wisconsin and UW-Whitewater. St. Thomas was 0-3 in three meetings with the Warhawks, the most recent loss coming in 2019. The Tommies have also struggled against Wisconsin foes since making the leap to Division I, losing both meetings with the Badgers.
