University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, November 14
Ames, Iowa
6:30 p.m. CT
at
Iowa State
Photo by: Corina Sandy
Tommies put perfect record to the test at #8 Iowa State
11/13/2024 3:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It's been quite the week for the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team. The Tommies opened the 2024-25 season with a 3-0 record for the first time in the Division I era, claiming wins over Milwaukee, Crown and NIU to start the year. St. Thomas will put its perfect record to the test on Thursday, as the team travels to Ames, Iowa to take on #8 Iowa State in a rematch from 2023-24.
The Cyclones were the first ever Power 5 opponent to travel to Schoenecker Arena when they crossed state lines last year. It was a historic night for the Tommies that, unfortunately, did not include a storybook ending. Iowa State handed St. Thomas a 85-44 loss in its home arena, something the Tommies are looking to avenge on Thursday in Hilton Coliseum.
Fans can still purchase season and single game tickets at www.cyclones.com. Thursday's game in Ames, Iowa will steam on ESPN+. Subscriptions start at $10.99/month for just ESPN, with the price set to increase on October 17, 2024. Fans can also follow the livestats on Iowa State's official athletics website, cyclones.com and follow the team on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas improved to 3-0 for the first time in the DI era thanks to a 75-68 win over NIU. The Tommies led from start to finish, racing out to a 12-1 lead and shot well over 50% in the first quarter of play. However, the Huskies slowly chipped away at the St. Thomas lead, resulting in a 54-54 draw after the third quarter. Thanks to the efforts of Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia, the Tommies were able to leave DeKalb, Illinois with a victory, outscoring NIU 21-14 in the final quarter to secure the 75-68 victory.
THE OPPOSITION: Very few teams have had a better start to the year than the Iowa State Cyclones. Not only is Iowa State 3-0, but the Cyclones have also outscored their opponents 244-154 in that span. Yes, the Iowa State defense has yet to surrender 60 points in a game in 2024-25 and is holding opponents to a .298 shooting percentage through three games. As if that wasn't enough, the Cyclones star players Addy Brown and Audi Crooks are averaging well over 16.0 points per game and shooting well over 50% from the floor.
WAY BACK IN 2023: This will be the second ever meeting between St. Thomas and Iowa State and the first ever in the Hilton Coliseum. Last season, the Tommies hosted the Cyclones in Schoenecker Arena, though it wasn't much of a home court advantage for St. Thomas. Iowa State outscored the Tommies 23-6 in the first quarter, and St. Thomas never recovered, falling by a final score of 85-44. Jade Hill and Amber Scalia were the lone players to score in double-digits, tallying 11 and 10 points in the game, while Scalia and Jordyn Glynn led the team with five rebounds each.
QUEEN OF CLUTCH: As far as season debuts go, they don't get much better than Jade Hill's. The senior point guard was named the Summit League Women's Basketball Peak Performer of the Week after averaging 21.7 points on .489 shooting through the first three games of the season. Hill dropped a career-high and record-breaking 35 points in the Tommies 84-81 OT victory over Milwaukee in the season opener, becoming the first player in the DI era to score 35 points in any game, much less the first of the season. She then dropped 21 in St. Thomas' 75-68 win over NIU, 18 of which she scored in the second half. In fact, of her 65 total points, Hill scored 51 of them in the second half and eight in overtime, proving to be the queen of clutch for St. Thomas. Hill was also named the AP Key Player to Watch Tuesday afternoon.
BIG THREE: St. Thomas improved to 3-0 for the first time in the DI era thanks in large part to the team's Big Three: Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia. The trio are all averaging over 10.0 points per game this season, and both Hill (first) and Langbehn (fifth) rank top-5 in the Summit League in PPG. Of the three, only one has scored double-digit points in all three games this season: Langbehn. The forward opened her senior campaign with a 17 point performance against Milwaukee before putting up 15 and 19 against Crown and NIU respectively. Hill has scored 10+ points in two games this year and scored over 20 in both performances, while Scalia has scored 10+ points just once in 2024-25.
TOP RANKED... OFFENSE?: The Tommies have always been well known for their defensive identity dating back to the Division III days. This year, however, fans may be looking at a very different, more explosive St. Thomas offense. The Tommies currently lead the Summit League in points per game (86.0) and total points scored (258), having scored 70+ points in their first three games of the season. That doesn't mean Ruth Sinn's defense has taken a step back. While St. Thomas leads the conference in offense, the team ranks second in defense, holding its opponents to 60.7 points per game through the first three games of 2024-25.
BLOCK PARTY: The Tommies are racking up the blocks through the first three games of the season, recorded 5+ in back-to-back games against Milwaukee and Crown. In the season opener against the Panthers, St. Thomas was credited with seven total blocks, including three by junior guard Faith Feuerbach, before recording a DI era record 10 in the win over the Polars. Through three games, the Tommies lead the Summit League in total blocks (18) and blocks per game (6.00), and Feuerbach, along with Sammy Opichka, led the conference in total blocks with five each.
STEALING WINS: St. Thomas doesn't merely lead the League in total blocks this season. The Tommies also lead the conference in total steals (37) and steals per game (12.33), and nine different student-athletes have recorded at least two steals this season. Senior guard Phoebe Frentzel leads the team with seven steals in 2024-25, including four in the season opening win against Milwaukee. One of the top players on Sinn's bench, Frentzel was credited with four assists in the win over the Panthers and two in the victory over Crown, the ninth and tenth multi-steal games of her career. Nine of those 10 performances have occurred in the last two seasons, and Monday was Frentzel's third 4+ steal performance of her career. The Tommies are 6-4 all-time when Frentzel records at least two steals in a game, and 2-1 in her 4+ steal games.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Sammy Opichka recorded her first double-double of the season in St. Thomas' 84-81 victory over Milwaukee Monday night. The senior forward scored 12 points and added a team-leading 13 rebounds, her first double-double performance since the 2022-23 season. As a sophomore, Opichka scored 25 points and pulled in 12 rebounds in a 79-64 win over Purdue-Fort Wayne. Additionally, Opichka joins Hill as the only two players in the DI era to record 10+ rebounds in the season opener. Hill tallied a career-high 10 in the Tommies season opening loss to Drake in 2023-24.
NEVER HAVE WE EVER...: Gone 3-0 to open a Division I season. In fact, St. Thomas hasn't gone 3-0 to open the season since the COVID shortened 2020-21 when the team was still competing in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Since taking over in the early 2000s, Sinn has led the Tommies to seven 3-0 starts, including the final three seasons of Division III play. The longest win streak to open a season, in program history, belongs to Sinn, who won 31 consecutive games to open the 2016-17 season. The Tommies opened the season with a 77-43 win over Juniata before losing in the NCAA Semifinal to Tufts by a final score of 60-57.
LEE AND PENNY ANDERSON ARENA: Construction is well underway for the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, the future home of Tommie Basketball. In January 2023, St. Thomas announced that it had received a $75 million gift from Lee and Penny Anderson to construct a multiuse on-campus arena in St. Paul. With a total project cost estimated to be $175 million, the arena would be home to St. Thomas' basketball and hockey teams. The arena would also host commencement, speakers, career fairs, and other events for the broader community, such as concerts.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Sinn won her 393rd game as St. Thomas' head women's basketball coach, bringing her one step closer to 400 career wins. Already the winningest coach in program history, Sinn surpassed Ted Riverso's previous record of 337 career wins in 2019-20 and looks to become the first coach in Tommie women's basketball history to win 400 games with the program.
The Cyclones were the first ever Power 5 opponent to travel to Schoenecker Arena when they crossed state lines last year. It was a historic night for the Tommies that, unfortunately, did not include a storybook ending. Iowa State handed St. Thomas a 85-44 loss in its home arena, something the Tommies are looking to avenge on Thursday in Hilton Coliseum.
Fans can still purchase season and single game tickets at www.cyclones.com. Thursday's game in Ames, Iowa will steam on ESPN+. Subscriptions start at $10.99/month for just ESPN, with the price set to increase on October 17, 2024. Fans can also follow the livestats on Iowa State's official athletics website, cyclones.com and follow the team on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas improved to 3-0 for the first time in the DI era thanks to a 75-68 win over NIU. The Tommies led from start to finish, racing out to a 12-1 lead and shot well over 50% in the first quarter of play. However, the Huskies slowly chipped away at the St. Thomas lead, resulting in a 54-54 draw after the third quarter. Thanks to the efforts of Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia, the Tommies were able to leave DeKalb, Illinois with a victory, outscoring NIU 21-14 in the final quarter to secure the 75-68 victory.
THE OPPOSITION: Very few teams have had a better start to the year than the Iowa State Cyclones. Not only is Iowa State 3-0, but the Cyclones have also outscored their opponents 244-154 in that span. Yes, the Iowa State defense has yet to surrender 60 points in a game in 2024-25 and is holding opponents to a .298 shooting percentage through three games. As if that wasn't enough, the Cyclones star players Addy Brown and Audi Crooks are averaging well over 16.0 points per game and shooting well over 50% from the floor.
WAY BACK IN 2023: This will be the second ever meeting between St. Thomas and Iowa State and the first ever in the Hilton Coliseum. Last season, the Tommies hosted the Cyclones in Schoenecker Arena, though it wasn't much of a home court advantage for St. Thomas. Iowa State outscored the Tommies 23-6 in the first quarter, and St. Thomas never recovered, falling by a final score of 85-44. Jade Hill and Amber Scalia were the lone players to score in double-digits, tallying 11 and 10 points in the game, while Scalia and Jordyn Glynn led the team with five rebounds each.
QUEEN OF CLUTCH: As far as season debuts go, they don't get much better than Jade Hill's. The senior point guard was named the Summit League Women's Basketball Peak Performer of the Week after averaging 21.7 points on .489 shooting through the first three games of the season. Hill dropped a career-high and record-breaking 35 points in the Tommies 84-81 OT victory over Milwaukee in the season opener, becoming the first player in the DI era to score 35 points in any game, much less the first of the season. She then dropped 21 in St. Thomas' 75-68 win over NIU, 18 of which she scored in the second half. In fact, of her 65 total points, Hill scored 51 of them in the second half and eight in overtime, proving to be the queen of clutch for St. Thomas. Hill was also named the AP Key Player to Watch Tuesday afternoon.
BIG THREE: St. Thomas improved to 3-0 for the first time in the DI era thanks in large part to the team's Big Three: Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia. The trio are all averaging over 10.0 points per game this season, and both Hill (first) and Langbehn (fifth) rank top-5 in the Summit League in PPG. Of the three, only one has scored double-digit points in all three games this season: Langbehn. The forward opened her senior campaign with a 17 point performance against Milwaukee before putting up 15 and 19 against Crown and NIU respectively. Hill has scored 10+ points in two games this year and scored over 20 in both performances, while Scalia has scored 10+ points just once in 2024-25.
TOP RANKED... OFFENSE?: The Tommies have always been well known for their defensive identity dating back to the Division III days. This year, however, fans may be looking at a very different, more explosive St. Thomas offense. The Tommies currently lead the Summit League in points per game (86.0) and total points scored (258), having scored 70+ points in their first three games of the season. That doesn't mean Ruth Sinn's defense has taken a step back. While St. Thomas leads the conference in offense, the team ranks second in defense, holding its opponents to 60.7 points per game through the first three games of 2024-25.
BLOCK PARTY: The Tommies are racking up the blocks through the first three games of the season, recorded 5+ in back-to-back games against Milwaukee and Crown. In the season opener against the Panthers, St. Thomas was credited with seven total blocks, including three by junior guard Faith Feuerbach, before recording a DI era record 10 in the win over the Polars. Through three games, the Tommies lead the Summit League in total blocks (18) and blocks per game (6.00), and Feuerbach, along with Sammy Opichka, led the conference in total blocks with five each.
STEALING WINS: St. Thomas doesn't merely lead the League in total blocks this season. The Tommies also lead the conference in total steals (37) and steals per game (12.33), and nine different student-athletes have recorded at least two steals this season. Senior guard Phoebe Frentzel leads the team with seven steals in 2024-25, including four in the season opening win against Milwaukee. One of the top players on Sinn's bench, Frentzel was credited with four assists in the win over the Panthers and two in the victory over Crown, the ninth and tenth multi-steal games of her career. Nine of those 10 performances have occurred in the last two seasons, and Monday was Frentzel's third 4+ steal performance of her career. The Tommies are 6-4 all-time when Frentzel records at least two steals in a game, and 2-1 in her 4+ steal games.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Sammy Opichka recorded her first double-double of the season in St. Thomas' 84-81 victory over Milwaukee Monday night. The senior forward scored 12 points and added a team-leading 13 rebounds, her first double-double performance since the 2022-23 season. As a sophomore, Opichka scored 25 points and pulled in 12 rebounds in a 79-64 win over Purdue-Fort Wayne. Additionally, Opichka joins Hill as the only two players in the DI era to record 10+ rebounds in the season opener. Hill tallied a career-high 10 in the Tommies season opening loss to Drake in 2023-24.
NEVER HAVE WE EVER...: Gone 3-0 to open a Division I season. In fact, St. Thomas hasn't gone 3-0 to open the season since the COVID shortened 2020-21 when the team was still competing in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Since taking over in the early 2000s, Sinn has led the Tommies to seven 3-0 starts, including the final three seasons of Division III play. The longest win streak to open a season, in program history, belongs to Sinn, who won 31 consecutive games to open the 2016-17 season. The Tommies opened the season with a 77-43 win over Juniata before losing in the NCAA Semifinal to Tufts by a final score of 60-57.
LEE AND PENNY ANDERSON ARENA: Construction is well underway for the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, the future home of Tommie Basketball. In January 2023, St. Thomas announced that it had received a $75 million gift from Lee and Penny Anderson to construct a multiuse on-campus arena in St. Paul. With a total project cost estimated to be $175 million, the arena would be home to St. Thomas' basketball and hockey teams. The arena would also host commencement, speakers, career fairs, and other events for the broader community, such as concerts.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Sinn won her 393rd game as St. Thomas' head women's basketball coach, bringing her one step closer to 400 career wins. Already the winningest coach in program history, Sinn surpassed Ted Riverso's previous record of 337 career wins in 2019-20 and looks to become the first coach in Tommie women's basketball history to win 400 games with the program.
Players Mentioned
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