University of St. Thomas Athletics
8-5,0-0Summit League
Eastern Michigan
1-9,0-0MAC
Trio leads Tommies to 81-65 win at Eastern Michigan
12/28/2024 3:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
YPSILANTI, MICH. – There is not much the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team can't achieve when its top scorers are doing just that. Scoring, we mean. The Tommies won their final nonconference regular season game of the 2024-25 season on Saturday, defeating Eastern Michigan University by a final score of 81-65. St. Thomas' top scorers, Jade Hill (Minneapolis, Minn. / South), Amber Scalia (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) and Jo Langbehn (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) combined to score 59 of the Tommies 81 points, helping the team improve to 8-5 overall entering the Summit League schedule.
RECAP:
The Tommies, specifically, Jade Hill (Minneapolis, Minn. / South), were off and running to open Saturday's game, as Hill made four consecutive baskets to give St. Thomas an early 8-4 lead over Eastern Michigan. The Tommies found significant success in the paint, as they shot .500 from the floor to take an 18-12 lead after the first quarter of play. That was simply a preview for what would occur in the second. Though the Eagles managed to pull within three of St. Thomas in the early minutes, a 10-0 run by the Tommies helped them extend their lead to 32-19 with 6:22 remaining in the half. Amber Scalia (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) joined Hill with double-digit points in the first half, accounting for 13. In fact, the St. Thomas backcourt scored a combined 31 points in the opening two quarters of play, helping St. Thomas jump out to a 44-30 halftime lead.
This time around, it was the third quarter that did not treat the Tommies kindly. St. Thomas did not score its first point of the second half until 6:31 in the third quarter, and the Eagles took full advantage of the Tommies offensive stutter. Eastern Michigan opened the third quarter with a 11-1 run, whittling St. Thomas' lead to 45-41. The Tommies stayed the course, using baskets from Scalia and Jo Langbehn (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) to regain a 10-point lead with under two minutes to go. A three-point play from Alyssa Sand (Albany, Minn. / Albany) secured a 60-47 lead for St Thomas entering the fourth and final quarter of play.
The Tommies' bench got in on the scoring action in the fourth quarter, as baskets from Kammie Ludwig (Geneseo, Ill. / Geneseo) and Phoebe Frentzel (Pewaukee, Wis. / Arrowhead) boosted the St. Thomas lead to 76-60 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Savanah Gardner (Apple Valley, Minn. / Eastview) scored the first points of her collegiate career with the Purple, cementing the Tommies 81-65 win Saturday afternoon.
TOP TOMMIES
- Amber Scalia (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) scored 20+ points in Michigan for the second time this season, closing Saturday's game with a team-leading 21 points on 7-13 shooting, including a 2-4 mark from three-point range. Scalia also went 5-5 from the charity stripe and added one rebounds, two assists and two steals to her stat line.
- Jade Hill (Minneapolis, Minn. / South) scored 20+ points for the third consecutive game, closing with 20 on 9-16 shooting. Hill also led the team with six assists, bringing her career total to 387. Entering Summit League play, Hill is just 19 assists away from tying Teri Witcraft's program record of 406.
- Jo Langbehn (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) scored 18 points in Saturday's victory and led the team with eight rebounds. Alyssa Sand (Albany, Minn. / Albany) added eight rebounds and six points off the bench.
SINN CITY
Thanks to Saturday's win, head coach Ruth Sinn is now two away from career win 400. She would become the second St. Thomas in the DI era to eclipse the 400 career wins threshold, joining Thanh Pham, who eclipsed the mark with St. Thomas volleyball in 2023. Sinn would be the first female coach in Tommie Athletics history to win 400 games with any program and could do so with a 2-0 start in Summit League play.
UP NEXT
It's on to Summit League play for St. Thomas, which will open the conference slate at home for the second consecutive year. The Tommies will host Kansas City in their first Summit League game of the season on Thursday, January 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. St. Thomas will then host North Dakota State on Saturday, January 4. The game is part of the Tommies Family 4 Pack deal, which can be purchased online at tommiesports.com/tickets.
