University of St. Thomas Athletics
Photo by: PHIL SINN PHOTOGRAPHY
No. 8 Tommies, No. 9 Leathernecks open Summit League Championships March 3
3/2/2023 10:36:00 AM | Women's Basketball
St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Women's Basketball makes its first ever appearance at the Summit League Championships at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 3 against Western Illinois in Sioux Falls, S.D. The eight-seed Tommies and nine-seed Leathernecks play in the opening game of the tournament at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
Recapping the North Dakota Game
St. Thomas Women's Basketball celebrated senior day in style with a physical 74-68 win in Schoenecker Arena Saturday over North Dakota, who entered the game in second place of the Summit League standings.
The Tommies rode a high from their pregame senior day ceremonies into the first quarter with a 10-2 run over the first three minutes of action. Negaard sank two of her three 3-pointers during the run while Jo Langbehn accounted for the other two St. Thomas baskets. Amber Scalia came off the bench to prevent North Dakota from taking the lead going 3-of-3 from 3-point range and finishing with 11 of her 16 points in the second frame.
The momentum swung into UND's favor to begin the second half as it started on a 7-2 run to take its first lead since the first minute of the game. The Tommies made 5-of-10 shots in the third quarter but gave away nine turnovers that led to 16 points for the Fighting Hawks. UND took its first double digit lead, 43-33, nearly five minutes in and held a game-high lead of 13, 52-39, three minutes later.
Not scoring since the first quarter, Negaard drew a foul following the 13-point deficit and made all three shots to begin another momentum swing. The Tommies got to the free throw line for six shots before the end of the quarter, which helped cut the deficit to five, 54-49, heading into the fourth.
Scalia hit her fourth and final 3-pointer of the game to begin the fourth quarter, which was part of a 20-2 run spanning back to Negaard's three free throw makes with 1:46 in the third quarter. Another 3-pointer by Mendez capped the run and gave the Tommies a five-point, 59-54 lead.
The Tommie defense limited the Fighting Hawks to 2-of-11 shooting in the final quarter and scored 11 points off six UND turnovers. Langbehn connected on a layup off a UND turnover for the largest St. Thomas lead of the game, 68-58, with 5:29 to play. An and-one conversion by UND then began an 8-0 run to cut the St. Thomas lead to two with under three minutes to go. Jade Hill drove in the lane for a layup while the Tommies sealed the game with four free throws.
Negaard went 12-of-12 from the free throw line, her only scoring in the second half, and set a St. Thomas Division I era record for most free throws made without a miss.
Scouting Western Illinois
Western Illinois is 10-19 overall and 5-13 in the Summit League after losing three straight games, starting Feb. 18 with a 71-57 loss to St. Thomas in Macomb, Ill. The Leathernecks have lost seven of their last nine games overall.
Anna Deets leads WIU and is 12th in the Summit League with 12.6 points per game while Jada Thorpe follows and is tied for 20th in the conference with 11.0 points. Alissa Dins is fourth in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game and is fifth with 1.1 blocks per game. Elizabeth Lutz and Thorpe lead the team and are tied for sixth in the Summit with 1.6 steals per game.
The Leathernecks average 68.1 points per game and allow 73.6 points, which rank sixth and ninth in the Summit League, respectively. WIU leads the conference and is third in the country with 17.1 free throws made per game, are second in the Summit with a 3.28 turnover margin and are third with 9.2 steals per game.
Series History vs. Western Illinois
St. Thomas and Western Illinois have meet four times in the series as both teams have won two games. The Leathernecks won the first meeting of the 2022-23 series, 77-75 on Jan. 21 in St. Paul, before the Tommies won on the road, 71-57 on Feb. 18 in Macomb, Ill.
During the first game this season, the Purple came back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter to take an eight-point lead with 6:02 left in the fourth. WIU came back to win behind 3-pointers and a last-second layup.
The Tommies most recent matchup against the Leathernecks began with a 20-7 lead in the first quarter before coasting to the road victory. St. Thomas shot a season-best 52.7 percent from the field and tied a season-best 11 3-pointers. Jade Hill and Maggie Negaard both topped 20 points, combining for 41 points on 65.4 percent shooting.
Negaard's Career Season
Senior Maggie Negaard entered the season with a single-game career high of 15 points and has since topped that mark in 10 games, including eight of the last 14. She set a career-high with 18 points Dec. 8 against Purdue-Fort Wayne before scoring 19 on Jan. 7 at Omaha, 24 on Jan. 12 against Kansas City, and 28 on Jan. 21 against Western Illinois. She added another 19-point performance during the win over Oral Roberts and 20 points in the win at Western Illinois.
Through Jan. 28, Negaard joined North Dakota's Kacie Borowicz (seven-game streak) and Kansas City's E'Lease Stafford (six-game streak) as the only Summit League players to score at least 17 points through at least five consecutive games at any point this season.
Negaard is 14th in the country shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range. She also leads the Tommies and is 11th in the league with 12.8 points per game. Negaard knocks down 2.3 3-pointers per game, which is fourth in the Summit. She's totaled 19 double-digit scoring games, five 20-point games, and has 13 games with at least three 3-pointers. Also shooting 89.2 percent from the free throw line, Negaard has missed two free throws in a game once during 15 games with multiple free throw attempts.
A First at the Peak
Jo Langbehn was named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week following her career-best performance against Oral Roberts on Feb. 9 and Kansas City on Feb. 11. The weekly honor is the first ever for the St. Thomas Women's Basketball program.
The Elk River, Minn., native set a career high in scoring, averaged 24.0 points per game, and shot 74.1 percent from the field as the Tommies earned their first road weekend sweep in the NCAA Division I era. The wins also solidified the first two season sweeps for St. Thomas since joining NCAA DI.
Langbehn opened the weekend with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds and one assist. She followed up with a career high 29 points, topping her previous high of 21, on 12-of-16 shooting. Langbehn's 29 points were the most for a Tommie in a single game since Erin Norling scored 34 points Jan. 13, 2022 against North Dakota State.
Go Hard in the Paint
Sophomore Jo Langbehn recorded a previous 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. She followed up the next game with 20 points against Chicago State and set her current career high of 29 points Feb. 11 in a win at Kansas City.
After entering the 2022-23 season with a single-game career-high of 12 points, Langbehn has topped that mark eight times, including five of the last 10 games. She is averaging 13.6 points per game over her last 10 outings.
Running Point
Sophomore Jade Hill scored in double digits during eight of the first nine games this season and has led the Tommies in scoring five times. She scored a season-high 24 points during the Nov. 19 win over Presbyterian and set a season-high seven assists Dec. 8 versus Purdue Fort Wayne. 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 third in the Summit League with a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, tied for fourth with 1.8 steals, fifth with 3.8 assists, and is 15th with 11.5 points per game.
The Lone DIII Tommie
Jordyn Glynn remains as the only holdover from the St. Thomas' NCAA Division III era, completing her fourth and final season in the purple. She's played a career high 28 games and 26 starts, and also set single-season career bests with 25.8 minutes per game, a .391 field goal percentage, a .389 3-point percentage, 43 assists and 3.3 points per game. Glynn scored a single-game career high 13 points Jan. 7, 2023 at Omaha and pulled down 11 rebounds Nov. 26, 2021 at Cal Poly.
A Leader on the Boards
Jordyn Lamker leads the Tommies with 4.6 rebounds per game, and is one of three active Tommies with at least 4.0 per game. She's played in all 28 games this season with 23 starts and has a team-best 38 offensive boards. Sammy Opichka (injured) recorded 4.5 rebounds per game, followed by Negaard with 4.1 and Glynn with 4.0.
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 seven opponents over an eight-game stretch (Jan. 5 - Feb. 2) to shoot at least 36.8 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.
The Tommies have held four of its last six opponents to just two 3-pointers each, while three opponents shot 18.2 percent or worse from 3-point range in those games.
Bad Luck Overtimes
St. Thomas played in its third overtime game of the season Jan. 7 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.
Chase for the Summit
The winner of Friday's game between the eight seed St. Thomas and nine seed Western Illinois will advance to face the Summit League regular season champions in South Dakota State, who finished the regular season 18-0 in league play, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
The Tommies gave the Jackrabbits a scare during the first meeting of the regular season in St. Paul, holding a 13-6 lead to open the game and trailed by just three, 51-48, with 7:09 to play. SDSU closed the game on a 10-3 run. The Jackrabbits opened the second game of the series on a 10-2 run while a dominant first half led to a 58-25 halftime advantage.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Women's Basketball, follow along on Twitter and Instagram at @TommieWBBall
Recapping the North Dakota Game
St. Thomas Women's Basketball celebrated senior day in style with a physical 74-68 win in Schoenecker Arena Saturday over North Dakota, who entered the game in second place of the Summit League standings.
The Tommies rode a high from their pregame senior day ceremonies into the first quarter with a 10-2 run over the first three minutes of action. Negaard sank two of her three 3-pointers during the run while Jo Langbehn accounted for the other two St. Thomas baskets. Amber Scalia came off the bench to prevent North Dakota from taking the lead going 3-of-3 from 3-point range and finishing with 11 of her 16 points in the second frame.
The momentum swung into UND's favor to begin the second half as it started on a 7-2 run to take its first lead since the first minute of the game. The Tommies made 5-of-10 shots in the third quarter but gave away nine turnovers that led to 16 points for the Fighting Hawks. UND took its first double digit lead, 43-33, nearly five minutes in and held a game-high lead of 13, 52-39, three minutes later.
Not scoring since the first quarter, Negaard drew a foul following the 13-point deficit and made all three shots to begin another momentum swing. The Tommies got to the free throw line for six shots before the end of the quarter, which helped cut the deficit to five, 54-49, heading into the fourth.
Scalia hit her fourth and final 3-pointer of the game to begin the fourth quarter, which was part of a 20-2 run spanning back to Negaard's three free throw makes with 1:46 in the third quarter. Another 3-pointer by Mendez capped the run and gave the Tommies a five-point, 59-54 lead.
The Tommie defense limited the Fighting Hawks to 2-of-11 shooting in the final quarter and scored 11 points off six UND turnovers. Langbehn connected on a layup off a UND turnover for the largest St. Thomas lead of the game, 68-58, with 5:29 to play. An and-one conversion by UND then began an 8-0 run to cut the St. Thomas lead to two with under three minutes to go. Jade Hill drove in the lane for a layup while the Tommies sealed the game with four free throws.
Negaard went 12-of-12 from the free throw line, her only scoring in the second half, and set a St. Thomas Division I era record for most free throws made without a miss.
Scouting Western Illinois
Western Illinois is 10-19 overall and 5-13 in the Summit League after losing three straight games, starting Feb. 18 with a 71-57 loss to St. Thomas in Macomb, Ill. The Leathernecks have lost seven of their last nine games overall.
Anna Deets leads WIU and is 12th in the Summit League with 12.6 points per game while Jada Thorpe follows and is tied for 20th in the conference with 11.0 points. Alissa Dins is fourth in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game and is fifth with 1.1 blocks per game. Elizabeth Lutz and Thorpe lead the team and are tied for sixth in the Summit with 1.6 steals per game.
The Leathernecks average 68.1 points per game and allow 73.6 points, which rank sixth and ninth in the Summit League, respectively. WIU leads the conference and is third in the country with 17.1 free throws made per game, are second in the Summit with a 3.28 turnover margin and are third with 9.2 steals per game.
Series History vs. Western Illinois
St. Thomas and Western Illinois have meet four times in the series as both teams have won two games. The Leathernecks won the first meeting of the 2022-23 series, 77-75 on Jan. 21 in St. Paul, before the Tommies won on the road, 71-57 on Feb. 18 in Macomb, Ill.
During the first game this season, the Purple came back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter to take an eight-point lead with 6:02 left in the fourth. WIU came back to win behind 3-pointers and a last-second layup.
The Tommies most recent matchup against the Leathernecks began with a 20-7 lead in the first quarter before coasting to the road victory. St. Thomas shot a season-best 52.7 percent from the field and tied a season-best 11 3-pointers. Jade Hill and Maggie Negaard both topped 20 points, combining for 41 points on 65.4 percent shooting.
Negaard's Career Season
Senior Maggie Negaard entered the season with a single-game career high of 15 points and has since topped that mark in 10 games, including eight of the last 14. She set a career-high with 18 points Dec. 8 against Purdue-Fort Wayne before scoring 19 on Jan. 7 at Omaha, 24 on Jan. 12 against Kansas City, and 28 on Jan. 21 against Western Illinois. She added another 19-point performance during the win over Oral Roberts and 20 points in the win at Western Illinois.
Through Jan. 28, Negaard joined North Dakota's Kacie Borowicz (seven-game streak) and Kansas City's E'Lease Stafford (six-game streak) as the only Summit League players to score at least 17 points through at least five consecutive games at any point this season.
Negaard is 14th in the country shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range. She also leads the Tommies and is 11th in the league with 12.8 points per game. Negaard knocks down 2.3 3-pointers per game, which is fourth in the Summit. She's totaled 19 double-digit scoring games, five 20-point games, and has 13 games with at least three 3-pointers. Also shooting 89.2 percent from the free throw line, Negaard has missed two free throws in a game once during 15 games with multiple free throw attempts.
A First at the Peak
Jo Langbehn was named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week following her career-best performance against Oral Roberts on Feb. 9 and Kansas City on Feb. 11. The weekly honor is the first ever for the St. Thomas Women's Basketball program.
The Elk River, Minn., native set a career high in scoring, averaged 24.0 points per game, and shot 74.1 percent from the field as the Tommies earned their first road weekend sweep in the NCAA Division I era. The wins also solidified the first two season sweeps for St. Thomas since joining NCAA DI.
Langbehn opened the weekend with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds and one assist. She followed up with a career high 29 points, topping her previous high of 21, on 12-of-16 shooting. Langbehn's 29 points were the most for a Tommie in a single game since Erin Norling scored 34 points Jan. 13, 2022 against North Dakota State.
Go Hard in the Paint
Sophomore Jo Langbehn recorded a previous 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. She followed up the next game with 20 points against Chicago State and set her current career high of 29 points Feb. 11 in a win at Kansas City.
After entering the 2022-23 season with a single-game career-high of 12 points, Langbehn has topped that mark eight times, including five of the last 10 games. She is averaging 13.6 points per game over her last 10 outings.
Running Point
Sophomore Jade Hill scored in double digits during eight of the first nine games this season and has led the Tommies in scoring five times. She scored a season-high 24 points during the Nov. 19 win over Presbyterian and set a season-high seven assists Dec. 8 versus Purdue Fort Wayne. 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 third in the Summit League with a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, tied for fourth with 1.8 steals, fifth with 3.8 assists, and is 15th with 11.5 points per game.
The Lone DIII Tommie
Jordyn Glynn remains as the only holdover from the St. Thomas' NCAA Division III era, completing her fourth and final season in the purple. She's played a career high 28 games and 26 starts, and also set single-season career bests with 25.8 minutes per game, a .391 field goal percentage, a .389 3-point percentage, 43 assists and 3.3 points per game. Glynn scored a single-game career high 13 points Jan. 7, 2023 at Omaha and pulled down 11 rebounds Nov. 26, 2021 at Cal Poly.
A Leader on the Boards
Jordyn Lamker leads the Tommies with 4.6 rebounds per game, and is one of three active Tommies with at least 4.0 per game. She's played in all 28 games this season with 23 starts and has a team-best 38 offensive boards. Sammy Opichka (injured) recorded 4.5 rebounds per game, followed by Negaard with 4.1 and Glynn with 4.0.
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 seven opponents over an eight-game stretch (Jan. 5 - Feb. 2) to shoot at least 36.8 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.
The Tommies have held four of its last six opponents to just two 3-pointers each, while three opponents shot 18.2 percent or worse from 3-point range in those games.
Bad Luck Overtimes
St. Thomas played in its third overtime game of the season Jan. 7 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.
Chase for the Summit
The winner of Friday's game between the eight seed St. Thomas and nine seed Western Illinois will advance to face the Summit League regular season champions in South Dakota State, who finished the regular season 18-0 in league play, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
The Tommies gave the Jackrabbits a scare during the first meeting of the regular season in St. Paul, holding a 13-6 lead to open the game and trailed by just three, 51-48, with 7:09 to play. SDSU closed the game on a 10-3 run. The Jackrabbits opened the second game of the series on a 10-2 run while a dominant first half led to a 58-25 halftime advantage.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Women's Basketball, follow along on Twitter and Instagram at @TommieWBBall
Players Mentioned
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