University of St. Thomas Athletics
Monday, November 25
St. Paul, Minn.
7:00 p.m. CT
vs
Macalester
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Tommies return to Schoenecker Arena to host Macalester
11/24/2024 6:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – The University of St. Thomas women's basketball team is (finally) back at Schoenecker Arena. After four consecutive road games, the Tommies return to St. Paul, Minnesota to host an old friend, Macalester College, on Monday, November 25. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.
This is the first meeting between St. Thomas and Macalester since the Tommies made the leap to Division I back in 2021. A longtime foe, St. Thomas and the Scots competed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), and the Tommies owned an all-time record of 31-3 against Macalester, dating back to 2000. St. Thomas head coach Ruth Sinn is 26-2 all-time against the Scots, and St. Thomas posted a record of 6-1 against Macalester before Sinn took over in 2005-06.
Fans can still purchase season and single game tickets at www.tommiesports.com/tickets. Fans who are unable to attend in person can now watch St. Thomas women's basketball through the Summit League Network and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas football games along with exclusive Tommie and Pioneer Football League (PFL) content, including replays, highlights, interviews, and special feature stories. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also listen to the call on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App and follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas is officially back in the win column. After dropping two consecutive games to #8 Iowa State and Wichita State, the Tommies improved to 4-2 this season after nabbing a 73-62 win at Oakland University on Thursday. St. Thomas took an early lead over the Golden Grizzles, but quickly found itself behind 17-8 in the first quarter before entering the locker room at halftime down 31-24. Thanks to a brilliant second half from Amber Scalia and Jo Langbehn, the Tommies were able to make up the deficit and led 51-43 the game by the end of the third quarter. St. Thomas then outscored Oakland 22-19 in the final 10 minutes of play to secure the 73-62 victory.
HELLO OLD FRIEND: The Tommies and Scots have quite the history, as they've squared off 34 times since Macalester officially starting its women's basketball program in 2000-01. All time, St. Thomas owns a 31-3 record against the Scots and won 20 consecutive games from January 2010 to Jannuary 2020. In fact, the last time the Tommies lost to Scots occurred on January 2, 2010 when Macalester stunned St. Thomas in the Leonard Center with a 60-41 victory. However, this will be the first meeting between the Tommies and Scots since the 2020 season, as St. Thomas left the MIAC and made the jump to Division I in 2021.
THE BIG THREE: It was no secret entering the 2024-25 season as the Tommies success would be predicated on the success of their big three: Jade Hill, Amber Scalia and Jo Langbehn. While St. Thomas is 4-2 through the first six games of the season, Thursday marked just the second game in 2024-25 where all three players scored in double-digits. Scalia and Langbehn scored 22 points apiece in the Tommies comeback victory, as both shot .600 (9-15) from the floor in the victory. Jade Hill added 12 points in the win thanks to 8-8 shooting from the charity stripe to help St. Thomas snap its two-game losing skid.
SECOND QUARTER STRUGGLES: Overall, St. Thomas is outscoring its opponents 442-393 this season, including an impressive 121-85 mark in the first quarter. While the Tommies are well known for their red hot starts, they struggle in the second quarter in particular. Through the first six games of the season, St. Thomas is being outscored 104-78 in the second quarter alone, though the Tommies are outscoring their opponents 304-295 in the final three quarters of play (excluding regulation). This is aided by a 103-89 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter.
HOME SWEET HOME: St. Thomas has spent a long time away from the comforts of Schoenecker Arena, playing its last four games on the road after opening the season at home. The Tommies are 2-2 in that stretch, with wins over NIU and Oakland to bookend the road trip. After playing four consecutive games on the road, St. Thomas will play three straight at home starting with the Macalester game on Monday. The Tommies will also host UIC (December 1) and Northern Colorado (December 4) during the three-game homestand before headed to Idaho State as part of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge in early December.
TRENDING UPWARD: There may be one common denominator to St. Thomas' success this season: scoring (duh). While it is imperative for teams to score more points than their opponents to achieve victory, the numbers for the Tommies are staggering in 2024-25. St. Thomas is 4-0 when scoring at least 70 points in a game and 0-2 when not meeting the 70 point threshold. In fact, the Tommies were unable to score more than 70 points in both their losses this season, as the Cyclones held St. Thomas to just 47 points in Ames, Iowa on November 14. Wichita State then held the Tommies to 64 points in a 69-64 loss on November 16.
MORE ON THE SCORING THING: Remember when we mentioned St. Thomas' big three (Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia)? Well, in addition to scoring at least 70 points in a game, the Tommies are 4-0 when Langbehn, in particular, scores in double-digits. The senior forward has scores at least 10 points in St. Thomas' victories over Milwaukee, Crown, NIU and Oakland and was the leading scorer in two of those four wins. However, a big night from Langbehn isn't a guaranteed win for St. Thomas. Langbehn scored a career-high 30 points in the Tommies 69-64 loss to the Shockers earlier this month after uncharacteristically quiet nights from Hill and Scalia. Hill was held to nine points and Scalia four by the Shockers defense, making the lowest combined scoring total for the backcourt duo this season.
BLOCK PARTY: St. Thomas' defense has been a turnover machine early in the season and particularly impressive when it comes to blocked shots. The Tommies continue to lead the Summit League in total blocks (29) and blocks per game (4.83), and four different student-athletes rank in the top-15 in the conference in blocks and blocks per game. A startling stat? None of them are Jo Langbehn. Currently, senior Sammy Opichka leads the conference in total blocks (7) and ranks second in the Summit League in blocks per game (1.2). Faith Feuerbach ranks fourth in both categories, while Mikayla Werner and Jordyn Lamker join their teammates in the top-15 in the Summit League this season.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn won her 394th 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. 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. Of her 394 wins, 26 came against Macalester, accounting for 15% of her career total with the Tommies.
Of note: Sinn would join volleyball coach Thanh Pham as the two coaches in St. Thomas history to eclipse the 400 career win threshold with victories at both the Division I and Division III level. Of Sinn's 394 career wins, 39 have occurred at the Division I level, including 34 against DI opponents.
This is the first meeting between St. Thomas and Macalester since the Tommies made the leap to Division I back in 2021. A longtime foe, St. Thomas and the Scots competed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), and the Tommies owned an all-time record of 31-3 against Macalester, dating back to 2000. St. Thomas head coach Ruth Sinn is 26-2 all-time against the Scots, and St. Thomas posted a record of 6-1 against Macalester before Sinn took over in 2005-06.
Fans can still purchase season and single game tickets at www.tommiesports.com/tickets. Fans who are unable to attend in person can now watch St. Thomas women's basketball through the Summit League Network and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas football games along with exclusive Tommie and Pioneer Football League (PFL) content, including replays, highlights, interviews, and special feature stories. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also listen to the call on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App and follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com.
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas is officially back in the win column. After dropping two consecutive games to #8 Iowa State and Wichita State, the Tommies improved to 4-2 this season after nabbing a 73-62 win at Oakland University on Thursday. St. Thomas took an early lead over the Golden Grizzles, but quickly found itself behind 17-8 in the first quarter before entering the locker room at halftime down 31-24. Thanks to a brilliant second half from Amber Scalia and Jo Langbehn, the Tommies were able to make up the deficit and led 51-43 the game by the end of the third quarter. St. Thomas then outscored Oakland 22-19 in the final 10 minutes of play to secure the 73-62 victory.
HELLO OLD FRIEND: The Tommies and Scots have quite the history, as they've squared off 34 times since Macalester officially starting its women's basketball program in 2000-01. All time, St. Thomas owns a 31-3 record against the Scots and won 20 consecutive games from January 2010 to Jannuary 2020. In fact, the last time the Tommies lost to Scots occurred on January 2, 2010 when Macalester stunned St. Thomas in the Leonard Center with a 60-41 victory. However, this will be the first meeting between the Tommies and Scots since the 2020 season, as St. Thomas left the MIAC and made the jump to Division I in 2021.
THE BIG THREE: It was no secret entering the 2024-25 season as the Tommies success would be predicated on the success of their big three: Jade Hill, Amber Scalia and Jo Langbehn. While St. Thomas is 4-2 through the first six games of the season, Thursday marked just the second game in 2024-25 where all three players scored in double-digits. Scalia and Langbehn scored 22 points apiece in the Tommies comeback victory, as both shot .600 (9-15) from the floor in the victory. Jade Hill added 12 points in the win thanks to 8-8 shooting from the charity stripe to help St. Thomas snap its two-game losing skid.
SECOND QUARTER STRUGGLES: Overall, St. Thomas is outscoring its opponents 442-393 this season, including an impressive 121-85 mark in the first quarter. While the Tommies are well known for their red hot starts, they struggle in the second quarter in particular. Through the first six games of the season, St. Thomas is being outscored 104-78 in the second quarter alone, though the Tommies are outscoring their opponents 304-295 in the final three quarters of play (excluding regulation). This is aided by a 103-89 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter.
HOME SWEET HOME: St. Thomas has spent a long time away from the comforts of Schoenecker Arena, playing its last four games on the road after opening the season at home. The Tommies are 2-2 in that stretch, with wins over NIU and Oakland to bookend the road trip. After playing four consecutive games on the road, St. Thomas will play three straight at home starting with the Macalester game on Monday. The Tommies will also host UIC (December 1) and Northern Colorado (December 4) during the three-game homestand before headed to Idaho State as part of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge in early December.
TRENDING UPWARD: There may be one common denominator to St. Thomas' success this season: scoring (duh). While it is imperative for teams to score more points than their opponents to achieve victory, the numbers for the Tommies are staggering in 2024-25. St. Thomas is 4-0 when scoring at least 70 points in a game and 0-2 when not meeting the 70 point threshold. In fact, the Tommies were unable to score more than 70 points in both their losses this season, as the Cyclones held St. Thomas to just 47 points in Ames, Iowa on November 14. Wichita State then held the Tommies to 64 points in a 69-64 loss on November 16.
MORE ON THE SCORING THING: Remember when we mentioned St. Thomas' big three (Jade Hill, Jo Langbehn and Amber Scalia)? Well, in addition to scoring at least 70 points in a game, the Tommies are 4-0 when Langbehn, in particular, scores in double-digits. The senior forward has scores at least 10 points in St. Thomas' victories over Milwaukee, Crown, NIU and Oakland and was the leading scorer in two of those four wins. However, a big night from Langbehn isn't a guaranteed win for St. Thomas. Langbehn scored a career-high 30 points in the Tommies 69-64 loss to the Shockers earlier this month after uncharacteristically quiet nights from Hill and Scalia. Hill was held to nine points and Scalia four by the Shockers defense, making the lowest combined scoring total for the backcourt duo this season.
BLOCK PARTY: St. Thomas' defense has been a turnover machine early in the season and particularly impressive when it comes to blocked shots. The Tommies continue to lead the Summit League in total blocks (29) and blocks per game (4.83), and four different student-athletes rank in the top-15 in the conference in blocks and blocks per game. A startling stat? None of them are Jo Langbehn. Currently, senior Sammy Opichka leads the conference in total blocks (7) and ranks second in the Summit League in blocks per game (1.2). Faith Feuerbach ranks fourth in both categories, while Mikayla Werner and Jordyn Lamker join their teammates in the top-15 in the Summit League this season.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn won her 394th 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. 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. Of her 394 wins, 26 came against Macalester, accounting for 15% of her career total with the Tommies.
Of note: Sinn would join volleyball coach Thanh Pham as the two coaches in St. Thomas history to eclipse the 400 career win threshold with victories at both the Division I and Division III level. Of Sinn's 394 career wins, 39 have occurred at the Division I level, including 34 against DI opponents.
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