University of St. Thomas Athletics
5-2,0-0Summit League
Macalester
5-2,0-0MIAC
Tommies open home stand with win over Macalester
11/25/2024 10:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – There's plenty for the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team to be thankful for the Monday before Thanksgiving. The Tommies returned to Schoenecker Arena, hosting an old and maybe not so familiar fore Macalester College, in their first home game in nearly two weeks. It was the homecoming St. Thomas was looking for, as the Tommies earned a resounding 84-43 win over the Scots. St. Thomas improved to 5-2 overall with the win, and Jade Hill (Minneapolis, Minn. / South), Amber Scalia (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater), and Jo Langbehn (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) all scored in double digits for the Tommies.
RECAP:
It took St. Thomas a solid 45 seconds to jump start the offense in Schoenecker Arena, but once the Tommies got going, they were nearly impossible to stop. Sammy Opichka (Green Bay, Wis. / Notre Dame Academy) scored the team's first basket, and the buckets and points continued to flow. St. Thomas outscored Macalester 26-9 in the opening 10 minutes of play and closed the quarter on the 8-0 run, fueled by baskets from Hill and Scalia.
The Tommies 8-0 run extended to 15-0 to open the second quarter. Riley Wright (Marion, Iowa / Marion) scored her first basket with the Purple to open the quarter, and Jordyn Lamker (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) quickly followed suite, pushing St. Thomas over the 30-point mark. By the time the Scots scored their first points of the second, the Tommies were already ahead 33-11 and eventually closed the quarter with a 49-18 halftime lead.
Macalester pushed St. Thomas in the third and fourth quarter, using scrappy defense and timely shots to make things difficult for the Tommies. However, the lead never slipped from the Tommies grasp. Despite some pesky persistence from Macalester, St. Thomas continued to put the ball through the hoop, extending its lead to 70-32 by the end of the third thanks to an and-one from Lamker. Then, in the fourth, more Tommies got involved in the scoring efforts. Kammie Ludwig's (Genseo, Ill. / Geneseo) back-to-back threes pushed the lead to 78-37, and free throws by Mikayla Werner (Hortonville, Wis. / Hortonville) gave St. Thomas an 80-40 lead with 3:23 remaining in regulation. Alyssa Sand (Albany, Minn. / Albany) secured the 40+ point victory for the Tommies, scoring the final two baskets to clinch the 84-43 victory.
TOP TOMMIES
- Jade Hill (Minneapolis, Minn. / South), Amber Scalia (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) and Jo Langbehn (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) scored in double-digits for the second consecutive game, combining to score 45 of St. Thomas' 84 points Monday evening. Hill led the way with 16 points on 5-9 shooting, including a 2-4 clip from three-point range, while Scalia and Langbehn added 15 and 14 points respectively. All three shot over .500 from the floor in the victory, and Hill and Scalia both tallied four assists apiece.
- Alyssa Sand (Albany, Minn. / Albany) led the team with seven rebounds in Monday's victory.
TOMMIE TIDBITS
Jo Langbehn moved within 10 points of 1000 thanks to her 14-point performance Monday. If she scores five points on Sunday, Langbehn would become the second member of the senior to eclipse the 1000 point threshold. Langbehn would also be the second Tommie in the DI era to score 1000 points with St. Thomas and only playing at the DI era.
UP NEXT
St. Thomas will kick off the month of December on Sunday when the team hosts UIC in the comforts of Schoenecker Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota, and fans can purchase tickets as part of the Tommies Black Friday Package. For the low price of $20, fans can receive tickets to men's hockey, women's basketball and men's basketball contests occurring November 29 – December 2. More information is available at www.tommiesports.com/tickets.
