University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, January 2
St. Paul, Minn.
1:00 p.m. CT
vs
Kansas City
Photo by: Wesley Dean
Tommies open conference play to ring in new year
12/30/2024 11:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It is officially the conference season for the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team. The Tommies will ring in the new year by hosting two Summit League opponents, Kansas City and North Dakota State, their first conference games of 2024-25. Tip off for both games is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.
There will be a lot of milestones for fans to watch out for this first weekend of conference play. Thanks to the team's win over Eastern Michigan last week, head coach Ruth Sinn is two wins away from No. 400 with the Tommies. In 20 seasons at the helm, Sinn has compiled an overall record of 398-147 with the Tommies and would become the first female coach in the department's history to reach the 400 career wins milestone. Former softball coach John Tschida was the first coach of a St. Thomas women's team to eclipse the 400 wins marker, while current volleyball coach Thanh Pham joined the club in 2023.
Additionally, Jade Hill inches closer and closer to the program's career assists record. Thanks to her six assist performance on Saturday, Hill now owns 378 assists as a Tommie, the most of any player in the DI era. She is just 19 away from tying Teri Witcraft's all-time career record of 406.
Tipoff for both games at Schoenecker Arena is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota. Saturday's game is part of the Tommies Family 4 Pack promotion. For the low price of $45, fans will receive four tickets to the game against NDSU along with four food vouches, four drinks of their choice and one St. Thomas branded cooler. Family 4 Pack and tickets for this weekend's contests can be purchased at www.tommiesports.com/tickets.
Fans who are unable to attend in person can watch both games on The Summit League Network through Midco Sports Plus and the Midco Sports Plus App. Saturday's game against the Bison will also air on FOX9+, and live stats will be available on tommiesports.com. Fans can additionally follow the Tommies on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: Everything was falling for St. Thomas, as the Tommies improved to 8-5 this season thanks to an 81-65 win over Eastern Michigan. Thanks to an 18-point first half from Jade Hill, St. Thomas raced out to a 44-30 halftime lead, but the Eagles made things interesting in the third. Fueled by an 11-1 run to open the quarter, Eastern Michigan whittled the Tommies lead to 45-41, but St. Thomas weathered the storm and regained a double-digit advantage. Up 60-47 entering the fourth quarter, the Tommies went on to win 81-65, as Hill, Scalia and Jo Langbehn all scored 15+ points in the victory.
TUNE IN: Women's basketball fans can watch the Tommies Summit League debut on Midco Sports Plus through the Midco Sports Plus app. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas basketball games along with exclusive Tommie and Summit League content. Starting September 3, fans can purchase the Midco Sports All In Package. This package gives fans access to the Summit League Network, CCHA TV and Tommie football games for the cost of $29.99 per month.
THE OPPOSITION: The Kansas City Roos kicked off their season with a bang, winning two of their first three thanks to victories over Utah State and William Jewell. Since then, Kansas City has bolstered just two wins in 12 games, including a resounding 103-49 win on Sunday. Like past seasons, the Roos defense has been stifling, holding opponents to under 70.0 points while outrebounding them 38.5 to 34.6. However, Kansas City's issue has been in the scoring department. While the Roos aren't necessarily giving up a lot of points, they aren't scoring that many either, averaging just 61.6 per game entering Thursday's contest.
SCALING UP: Junior guard Amber Scalia scored 20+ points for the second time this season in the team's 81-65 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Scalia led the team with 21 points in the victory thanks to 7-13 shooting from the floor, including a 2-4 clip from three-points. She also went 5-5 from the charity stripe and added one rebound, two assists and two steals to her stat line. However, the 21 point performance was one short of her season high. Where did Scalia have a better scoring performance? Why, Oakland University, also located in the state of Michigan. Scalia scored a season-high 22 points in the victory over the Golden Grizzlies on November 21, meaning the junior guard averaged 21.5 in two games played in the state of Michigan.
RUNNING UP THAT HILL: Jade Hill recorded her third straight 20+ point performance against the Eagles on Saturday, scoring exactly 20 points in the Tommies victory over Western Michigan. It was the 16th 20+ point scoring performance of her career, something that usually results in victory for St. Thomas. Since joining the squad in 2021, the Tommies are 10-6 when Hill scores 20+ points in a game and 1-0 when she scores over 30. This also marks the second time in her career she's scored 20+ points in back-to-back-to-back performances. However, she's only put together back-to-back 20+ point. As a first year, Hill scored 20+ in three consecutive Summit League games against Western Illinois, Kansas City and Oral Roberts from January 29 to February 5.
SUMMIT LEAGUE STARTERS: St. Thomas is 1-2 all-time in its Summit League opener since joining the conference in 2021. The Tommies are also 3-3 all-time during the opening weekend of conference play, earning wins against North Dakota, Kansas City, and Denver. In fact, this will be the first time St. Thomas has played two consecutive Summit League games to open the conference season at home since the 2021-22 season. That year, the Tommies went 1-1 in their Summit League debut, falling to Omaha 61-55 before rebounding with a 56-48 victory over Denver, their first ever Summit League victory. St. Thomas lost both Summit League games on the road in 2022-23, falling to North Dakota and North Dakota State, before opening 2023-24 with its best conference record to date. Last season, the Tommies went 2-0 to open conference play, earning a 95-76 win over the Fighting Hawks at home before defeating the Roos 66-57 on the road.
CUPPA JO: Jo Langbehn has been key to St. Thomas' success, not only in the 2024-25 season, but against the Roos in general. The senior has scored in double-digits four times against Kansas City and enters Thursday's contest averaging 14.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in six games against the Roos. Prior to her 30 points performance against Wichita State earlier this season, Langbehn set her career-high in points against Kansas City as a sophomore, scoring 29 points in a victory at the Swinney Center. She additionally set her career-high in rebounds at the Swinney Center last season, scoring 17 points and pulling in 13 rebounds in a win over the Roos. She followed that up with a 22 point performance in Schoenecker Arena a against Kansas City a few weeks later.
MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS?: St. Thomas' second quarter scoring woes are maybe over. Question mark? The Tommies outscored Eastern Michigan 26-18 in the second frame of Saturday's victory, marking the second time in the last three games St. Thomas has outscored an opponent in the second quarter. However, the Tommies have yet to do it in back-to-back games. St. Thomas scored 22 in a win over Western Illinois on December 14, and while the team scored 15 points in the second quarter, its defense surrendered 26 to Drake, allowing the Bulldogs to surge ahead 40-39 at the half. Entering Thursday's game against Kansas City, the Tommies are now being outscored 218-185 by their opponents in the second quarter of play, and prior to the win over the Leathernecks, they had yet to outscore a Division I opponent in the second quarter of play.
TURN THE TIDE: St. Thomas is looking to reverse the curse, of sorts, against NDSU. The Tommies won their first ever meeting with the Summit League powerhouse back in 2022, upending the Bison 73-62 at Schoenecker Arena. Since then, St. Thomas is 0-5 against NDSU and has not exactly produced a lot close games. In the last five meetings, the Bison have outscored the Tommies 388-265 and has held St. Thomas to under 55 points in the last four meetings. However, NDSU's leading scorers from the past two seasons, Heaven Hamling and Elle Evans, are no longer with the Bison, as Hamling graduated, and Evans transferred to Kansas during the offseason. Those two alone accounted for 129 of the 388 points NDSU scored against the Tommies in their last four meetings.
BLOCK PARTY: This weekend's series will feature some of the top shot blockers in the Summit League between St. Thomas, Kansas City and NDSU. Of the top-10 shot blockers in the League this season, seven play for one of the three teams, including three Tommies and three Bison. After recording her sixth consecutive game with at least one block, Sammy Opichka remained at the top of the Summit in blocks per game, tied with NDSU's Avery Koenen. The Bison's Abbie Draper and Kansas City's Kelby Bannerman rank third in the conference in the same statistic, while and Abby Schulte snuck into the top-10 for NDSU. Joining Opichka in the top-10 are Jordyn Lamker and Faith Feuerbach.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn won her 398th 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.
There will be a lot of milestones for fans to watch out for this first weekend of conference play. Thanks to the team's win over Eastern Michigan last week, head coach Ruth Sinn is two wins away from No. 400 with the Tommies. In 20 seasons at the helm, Sinn has compiled an overall record of 398-147 with the Tommies and would become the first female coach in the department's history to reach the 400 career wins milestone. Former softball coach John Tschida was the first coach of a St. Thomas women's team to eclipse the 400 wins marker, while current volleyball coach Thanh Pham joined the club in 2023.
Additionally, Jade Hill inches closer and closer to the program's career assists record. Thanks to her six assist performance on Saturday, Hill now owns 378 assists as a Tommie, the most of any player in the DI era. She is just 19 away from tying Teri Witcraft's all-time career record of 406.
Tipoff for both games at Schoenecker Arena is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota. Saturday's game is part of the Tommies Family 4 Pack promotion. For the low price of $45, fans will receive four tickets to the game against NDSU along with four food vouches, four drinks of their choice and one St. Thomas branded cooler. Family 4 Pack and tickets for this weekend's contests can be purchased at www.tommiesports.com/tickets.
Fans who are unable to attend in person can watch both games on The Summit League Network through Midco Sports Plus and the Midco Sports Plus App. Saturday's game against the Bison will also air on FOX9+, and live stats will be available on tommiesports.com. Fans can additionally follow the Tommies on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: Everything was falling for St. Thomas, as the Tommies improved to 8-5 this season thanks to an 81-65 win over Eastern Michigan. Thanks to an 18-point first half from Jade Hill, St. Thomas raced out to a 44-30 halftime lead, but the Eagles made things interesting in the third. Fueled by an 11-1 run to open the quarter, Eastern Michigan whittled the Tommies lead to 45-41, but St. Thomas weathered the storm and regained a double-digit advantage. Up 60-47 entering the fourth quarter, the Tommies went on to win 81-65, as Hill, Scalia and Jo Langbehn all scored 15+ points in the victory.
TUNE IN: Women's basketball fans can watch the Tommies Summit League debut on Midco Sports Plus through the Midco Sports Plus app. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas basketball games along with exclusive Tommie and Summit League content. Starting September 3, fans can purchase the Midco Sports All In Package. This package gives fans access to the Summit League Network, CCHA TV and Tommie football games for the cost of $29.99 per month.
THE OPPOSITION: The Kansas City Roos kicked off their season with a bang, winning two of their first three thanks to victories over Utah State and William Jewell. Since then, Kansas City has bolstered just two wins in 12 games, including a resounding 103-49 win on Sunday. Like past seasons, the Roos defense has been stifling, holding opponents to under 70.0 points while outrebounding them 38.5 to 34.6. However, Kansas City's issue has been in the scoring department. While the Roos aren't necessarily giving up a lot of points, they aren't scoring that many either, averaging just 61.6 per game entering Thursday's contest.
SCALING UP: Junior guard Amber Scalia scored 20+ points for the second time this season in the team's 81-65 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Scalia led the team with 21 points in the victory thanks to 7-13 shooting from the floor, including a 2-4 clip from three-points. She also went 5-5 from the charity stripe and added one rebound, two assists and two steals to her stat line. However, the 21 point performance was one short of her season high. Where did Scalia have a better scoring performance? Why, Oakland University, also located in the state of Michigan. Scalia scored a season-high 22 points in the victory over the Golden Grizzlies on November 21, meaning the junior guard averaged 21.5 in two games played in the state of Michigan.
RUNNING UP THAT HILL: Jade Hill recorded her third straight 20+ point performance against the Eagles on Saturday, scoring exactly 20 points in the Tommies victory over Western Michigan. It was the 16th 20+ point scoring performance of her career, something that usually results in victory for St. Thomas. Since joining the squad in 2021, the Tommies are 10-6 when Hill scores 20+ points in a game and 1-0 when she scores over 30. This also marks the second time in her career she's scored 20+ points in back-to-back-to-back performances. However, she's only put together back-to-back 20+ point. As a first year, Hill scored 20+ in three consecutive Summit League games against Western Illinois, Kansas City and Oral Roberts from January 29 to February 5.
SUMMIT LEAGUE STARTERS: St. Thomas is 1-2 all-time in its Summit League opener since joining the conference in 2021. The Tommies are also 3-3 all-time during the opening weekend of conference play, earning wins against North Dakota, Kansas City, and Denver. In fact, this will be the first time St. Thomas has played two consecutive Summit League games to open the conference season at home since the 2021-22 season. That year, the Tommies went 1-1 in their Summit League debut, falling to Omaha 61-55 before rebounding with a 56-48 victory over Denver, their first ever Summit League victory. St. Thomas lost both Summit League games on the road in 2022-23, falling to North Dakota and North Dakota State, before opening 2023-24 with its best conference record to date. Last season, the Tommies went 2-0 to open conference play, earning a 95-76 win over the Fighting Hawks at home before defeating the Roos 66-57 on the road.
CUPPA JO: Jo Langbehn has been key to St. Thomas' success, not only in the 2024-25 season, but against the Roos in general. The senior has scored in double-digits four times against Kansas City and enters Thursday's contest averaging 14.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in six games against the Roos. Prior to her 30 points performance against Wichita State earlier this season, Langbehn set her career-high in points against Kansas City as a sophomore, scoring 29 points in a victory at the Swinney Center. She additionally set her career-high in rebounds at the Swinney Center last season, scoring 17 points and pulling in 13 rebounds in a win over the Roos. She followed that up with a 22 point performance in Schoenecker Arena a against Kansas City a few weeks later.
MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS?: St. Thomas' second quarter scoring woes are maybe over. Question mark? The Tommies outscored Eastern Michigan 26-18 in the second frame of Saturday's victory, marking the second time in the last three games St. Thomas has outscored an opponent in the second quarter. However, the Tommies have yet to do it in back-to-back games. St. Thomas scored 22 in a win over Western Illinois on December 14, and while the team scored 15 points in the second quarter, its defense surrendered 26 to Drake, allowing the Bulldogs to surge ahead 40-39 at the half. Entering Thursday's game against Kansas City, the Tommies are now being outscored 218-185 by their opponents in the second quarter of play, and prior to the win over the Leathernecks, they had yet to outscore a Division I opponent in the second quarter of play.
TURN THE TIDE: St. Thomas is looking to reverse the curse, of sorts, against NDSU. The Tommies won their first ever meeting with the Summit League powerhouse back in 2022, upending the Bison 73-62 at Schoenecker Arena. Since then, St. Thomas is 0-5 against NDSU and has not exactly produced a lot close games. In the last five meetings, the Bison have outscored the Tommies 388-265 and has held St. Thomas to under 55 points in the last four meetings. However, NDSU's leading scorers from the past two seasons, Heaven Hamling and Elle Evans, are no longer with the Bison, as Hamling graduated, and Evans transferred to Kansas during the offseason. Those two alone accounted for 129 of the 388 points NDSU scored against the Tommies in their last four meetings.
BLOCK PARTY: This weekend's series will feature some of the top shot blockers in the Summit League between St. Thomas, Kansas City and NDSU. Of the top-10 shot blockers in the League this season, seven play for one of the three teams, including three Tommies and three Bison. After recording her sixth consecutive game with at least one block, Sammy Opichka remained at the top of the Summit in blocks per game, tied with NDSU's Avery Koenen. The Bison's Abbie Draper and Kansas City's Kelby Bannerman rank third in the conference in the same statistic, while and Abby Schulte snuck into the top-10 for NDSU. Joining Opichka in the top-10 are Jordyn Lamker and Faith Feuerbach.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn won her 398th 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.
Players Mentioned
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