University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, January 30
Grand Forks, N.D.
7:00 p.m. CT
at
North Dakota
Photo by: George Dannecker
Tommies travel to North Dakota for series at UND, NDSU
1/28/2025 4:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It's road trip time for the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team. After a nice, not really relaxing weekend at home, the Tommies will hit the road for North Dakota, as they are set to face the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University in Summit League play.
This will be the first meeting in 2024-25 between St. Thomas and North Dakota, as the two conference opponents have yet to face each other this year. The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center will play host to this first meeting, as the Tommies look to win their fourth consecutive game against the Fighting Hawks. St. Thomas earned the series sweep last year, extending its win streak against North Dakota to three-consecutive games, the team's longest active win streak against a Summit League opponent.
Saturday's clash at the Scheels Center will be the second meeting between the Tommies and Bison this season. NDSU won the initial meeting in Schoenecker Arena, despite a strong first half by St. Thomas. The Tommies jumped out to a 13-11 lead after the first quarter and trailed by just three entering the locker room at halftime. However, the Bison's strong defensive play in the second half resulted in a 73-59 victory for NDSU, a win St.Thomas would like to avenge on Saturday.
Tipoff on Thursday is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Grand Forks, North Dakota, while Saturday's game is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. in Fargo, North Dakota. 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. Fans can additionally follow the Tommies on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: It was a historic day for the St. Thomas women's basketball team and head coach Ruth Sinn. The Tommies defeated Denver 78-65 at Schoenecker Arena, which was not only the team's second Summit League of the season. It was also Sinn's 400th victory as the head coach of St. Thomas women's basketball. The Tommies led from start to finish, jumping out to a 19-8 first quarter lead they would never relinquish. While the Pioneers threatened, pulling within 10 with 7:20 remaining in regulation, they never really put a dent in St. Thomas' lead. Amber Scalia, Jo Langbehn, Sammy Opihcka and Jade Hill all scored 10+ points in the victory, with Scalia scoring a team-leading 21 on 7-12 shooting, including a 3-5 clip from three-point range.
THE OPPOSITION: North Dakota put together an impressive first month of Summit League play, winning a handful of close games against the top-projected teams in the conference. The Fighting Hawks earned close quarter wins over Kansas City (63-60) and Denver (69-61) before trouncing South Dakota 80-55. North Dakota has also been fairly impressive at home this season. The Fighting Hawks are 6-3 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in 2024-25 with wins over Eastern Illinois, Weber State, Bethel (DIII), Mayville State, Denver and South Dakota. Kiera Pemberton leads North Dakota in scoring this season, entering Thursday's contest averaging 15.9 points per game while shooting .535 from the floor.
BIG THREE: Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, a team's best scorers all scoring 10+ points is a good thing. That's not always the case for St. Thomas. The trio of Hill, Langbehn and Scalia has scored 10+ points in the same game 11 times this season, 10 times against Division I opponents. The Tommies are 7-4 in those 11 games and 6-4 when the trio scores 10+ points against DI opponents. Thanks to Saturday's win over Denver, two of those wins are in Summit League play. St. Thomas is now 2-3 versus conference opponents when Hill, Langbehn and Scalia score 10+ points in the same game. The Tommies are also 1-3 when they all score 10+ points, and one scores 20+.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn was already the winningest coach in St. Thomas women's basketball history. She is now the only coach with 400 career wins with the program. Thanks to her victory, Sinn joins Steve Fritz as the only two basketball coaches in the department's history with 400 career wins, and she is also the first female head coach to win over 400 career games at St. Thomas. Sinn is the fifth coach all-time to reach the milestone with any sport, joining Fritz, Dennis Denning (baseball), John Tschida (softball) and Thanh Pham (volleyball).
MILESTONE WATCH: Ruth Sinn isn't the only Tommie approaching a career milestone this season. Thanks to her performances against SDSU and Denver last week, Amber Scalia creeped ever closer to the 1000 career points mark. Currently with 955 points to her name, Scalia could become the third St. Thomas women's basketball player to eclipse the mark in the past two seasons, joining Jade Hill and Jo Langbehn in the DI era 1000 point club. Scalia averaged 22.5 points in last week's contests after averaging just 10.5 the week before.
SAMMY FACTOR: Sammy Opichka has made all the difference since returning to St. Thomas' starting lineup last week. In a two-game stretch with Opichka out of the line up, the Tommies went 0-2 and surrendered an average of 75.0 points per game while scoring just 59.5 themselves. Since Opichka's return, St. Thomas' offense is now averaging 72.3 points per game, scoring 76 and 78 points in its last two outings. That is exactly the Tommies scoring average in nonconference play. Coincidentally, Opichka started every single nonconference game for St. Thomas and played significant minutes until she was derailed by an ankle injury against Kansas City.
REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN...: Last year, the Tommies swept North Dakota for the first time in program history, defeating the Fighting Hawks in dominant fashion at home before a stellar shooting performance from Scalia clinched a victory on the road. St. Thomas opened Summit League play in 2023-24 with a resounding 95-76 win over North Dakota in which the Tommies set DI era records for most points in a game (95) and points scored in a quarter (32). Scalia and Jade Hill both scored 20+ points in the contest, but it paled in comparison to what Scalia would do in Grand Forks later that season. The junior scored a career-high 32 points in a 76-66 victory over the Fighting Hawks, the same weekend Raheem Anthony and Parker Bjorklund each scored 30+ points for the men in their weekend Summit League series.
QUEENS OF THE APPLES: It's no secret senior Jade Hill has been an assist machine in 2024-25. The senior recorded her 17th consecutive game with multiple assists, credited with nine in the win over the Pioneers. Scalia has been no slouch either when it comes to dishing and driving. While Hill leads the team with 89 assists this season and became the all-time leader in career assists with the program, Scalia ranks second with 59 and was credited with 13 assists in two games last weekend, including eight against SDSU. She and Hill are the only Tommies to record 7+ assists in multiple games this season, as Scalia recorded a career-high nine assists in St. Thomas' win over NIU in early November.
MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS?: Good news! St. Thomas has scored 10+ points in the second quarter in six consecutive games. Better news: The Tommies outscored Denver in the second quarter on Saturday! Prior to Saturday, St. Thomas had yet to outscore a Summit League opponent in the second frame, and it was a struggle for the Tommies to even score 10 points in the quarter earlier this season. Entering Thursday's game, the Tommies have outscored a Division I opponent just three times in the second quarter and never in back-to-back games. St. Thomas could break that trend on Thursday if the team manages to outscore North Dakota.
LET'S HAVE A BLOCK PARTY!: Defense should take center stage this weekend, as this weekend's series will feature three of the top blockers in the Summit League. The Fighting Hawks' Fatima Ibrahim currently leads the league in total blocks (26) and blocks per game (1.3), while 15 of her Summit League leading 26 blocks have come against conference opponents. Avery Koenen is no slouch either. The NDSU Bison enters the weekend with 23 blocks in 20 games, averaging 1.2 a game. Then there's Opichka. The senior was absent for St. Thomas first match up with NDSU, but she still ranks third in the conference in total blocks (20) and blocks per game (1.1).
SHOOT 'EM!: While defense will be on full display Thursday and Saturday, the game inside the paint will be critical for the Tommies. After seven Summit League games, Jo Langbehn currently ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting .627 from the floor entering Thursday's game. Langbehn won't be the only "shooter" on display over the weekend. Four of the Summit League's top-10 in field goal percentage will be playing in either Grand Forks or Fargo. Entering Thursday's game, Jordyn Schiller and Kiera Pemberton rank seventh (.481) and eighth (.480) in the Summit League in field goal percentage, while NDSU's Koenen (.578) and Abbie Draper (.536) rank third and fourth respectively.
This will be the first meeting in 2024-25 between St. Thomas and North Dakota, as the two conference opponents have yet to face each other this year. The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center will play host to this first meeting, as the Tommies look to win their fourth consecutive game against the Fighting Hawks. St. Thomas earned the series sweep last year, extending its win streak against North Dakota to three-consecutive games, the team's longest active win streak against a Summit League opponent.
Saturday's clash at the Scheels Center will be the second meeting between the Tommies and Bison this season. NDSU won the initial meeting in Schoenecker Arena, despite a strong first half by St. Thomas. The Tommies jumped out to a 13-11 lead after the first quarter and trailed by just three entering the locker room at halftime. However, the Bison's strong defensive play in the second half resulted in a 73-59 victory for NDSU, a win St.Thomas would like to avenge on Saturday.
Tipoff on Thursday is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Grand Forks, North Dakota, while Saturday's game is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. in Fargo, North Dakota. 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. Fans can additionally follow the Tommies on social media (@tommiewbball) for live updates.
LAST TIME OUT: It was a historic day for the St. Thomas women's basketball team and head coach Ruth Sinn. The Tommies defeated Denver 78-65 at Schoenecker Arena, which was not only the team's second Summit League of the season. It was also Sinn's 400th victory as the head coach of St. Thomas women's basketball. The Tommies led from start to finish, jumping out to a 19-8 first quarter lead they would never relinquish. While the Pioneers threatened, pulling within 10 with 7:20 remaining in regulation, they never really put a dent in St. Thomas' lead. Amber Scalia, Jo Langbehn, Sammy Opihcka and Jade Hill all scored 10+ points in the victory, with Scalia scoring a team-leading 21 on 7-12 shooting, including a 3-5 clip from three-point range.
THE OPPOSITION: North Dakota put together an impressive first month of Summit League play, winning a handful of close games against the top-projected teams in the conference. The Fighting Hawks earned close quarter wins over Kansas City (63-60) and Denver (69-61) before trouncing South Dakota 80-55. North Dakota has also been fairly impressive at home this season. The Fighting Hawks are 6-3 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in 2024-25 with wins over Eastern Illinois, Weber State, Bethel (DIII), Mayville State, Denver and South Dakota. Kiera Pemberton leads North Dakota in scoring this season, entering Thursday's contest averaging 15.9 points per game while shooting .535 from the floor.
BIG THREE: Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, a team's best scorers all scoring 10+ points is a good thing. That's not always the case for St. Thomas. The trio of Hill, Langbehn and Scalia has scored 10+ points in the same game 11 times this season, 10 times against Division I opponents. The Tommies are 7-4 in those 11 games and 6-4 when the trio scores 10+ points against DI opponents. Thanks to Saturday's win over Denver, two of those wins are in Summit League play. St. Thomas is now 2-3 versus conference opponents when Hill, Langbehn and Scalia score 10+ points in the same game. The Tommies are also 1-3 when they all score 10+ points, and one scores 20+.
COUNTDOWN TO 400: Ruth Sinn was already the winningest coach in St. Thomas women's basketball history. She is now the only coach with 400 career wins with the program. Thanks to her victory, Sinn joins Steve Fritz as the only two basketball coaches in the department's history with 400 career wins, and she is also the first female head coach to win over 400 career games at St. Thomas. Sinn is the fifth coach all-time to reach the milestone with any sport, joining Fritz, Dennis Denning (baseball), John Tschida (softball) and Thanh Pham (volleyball).
MILESTONE WATCH: Ruth Sinn isn't the only Tommie approaching a career milestone this season. Thanks to her performances against SDSU and Denver last week, Amber Scalia creeped ever closer to the 1000 career points mark. Currently with 955 points to her name, Scalia could become the third St. Thomas women's basketball player to eclipse the mark in the past two seasons, joining Jade Hill and Jo Langbehn in the DI era 1000 point club. Scalia averaged 22.5 points in last week's contests after averaging just 10.5 the week before.
SAMMY FACTOR: Sammy Opichka has made all the difference since returning to St. Thomas' starting lineup last week. In a two-game stretch with Opichka out of the line up, the Tommies went 0-2 and surrendered an average of 75.0 points per game while scoring just 59.5 themselves. Since Opichka's return, St. Thomas' offense is now averaging 72.3 points per game, scoring 76 and 78 points in its last two outings. That is exactly the Tommies scoring average in nonconference play. Coincidentally, Opichka started every single nonconference game for St. Thomas and played significant minutes until she was derailed by an ankle injury against Kansas City.
REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN...: Last year, the Tommies swept North Dakota for the first time in program history, defeating the Fighting Hawks in dominant fashion at home before a stellar shooting performance from Scalia clinched a victory on the road. St. Thomas opened Summit League play in 2023-24 with a resounding 95-76 win over North Dakota in which the Tommies set DI era records for most points in a game (95) and points scored in a quarter (32). Scalia and Jade Hill both scored 20+ points in the contest, but it paled in comparison to what Scalia would do in Grand Forks later that season. The junior scored a career-high 32 points in a 76-66 victory over the Fighting Hawks, the same weekend Raheem Anthony and Parker Bjorklund each scored 30+ points for the men in their weekend Summit League series.
QUEENS OF THE APPLES: It's no secret senior Jade Hill has been an assist machine in 2024-25. The senior recorded her 17th consecutive game with multiple assists, credited with nine in the win over the Pioneers. Scalia has been no slouch either when it comes to dishing and driving. While Hill leads the team with 89 assists this season and became the all-time leader in career assists with the program, Scalia ranks second with 59 and was credited with 13 assists in two games last weekend, including eight against SDSU. She and Hill are the only Tommies to record 7+ assists in multiple games this season, as Scalia recorded a career-high nine assists in St. Thomas' win over NIU in early November.
MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS?: Good news! St. Thomas has scored 10+ points in the second quarter in six consecutive games. Better news: The Tommies outscored Denver in the second quarter on Saturday! Prior to Saturday, St. Thomas had yet to outscore a Summit League opponent in the second frame, and it was a struggle for the Tommies to even score 10 points in the quarter earlier this season. Entering Thursday's game, the Tommies have outscored a Division I opponent just three times in the second quarter and never in back-to-back games. St. Thomas could break that trend on Thursday if the team manages to outscore North Dakota.
LET'S HAVE A BLOCK PARTY!: Defense should take center stage this weekend, as this weekend's series will feature three of the top blockers in the Summit League. The Fighting Hawks' Fatima Ibrahim currently leads the league in total blocks (26) and blocks per game (1.3), while 15 of her Summit League leading 26 blocks have come against conference opponents. Avery Koenen is no slouch either. The NDSU Bison enters the weekend with 23 blocks in 20 games, averaging 1.2 a game. Then there's Opichka. The senior was absent for St. Thomas first match up with NDSU, but she still ranks third in the conference in total blocks (20) and blocks per game (1.1).
SHOOT 'EM!: While defense will be on full display Thursday and Saturday, the game inside the paint will be critical for the Tommies. After seven Summit League games, Jo Langbehn currently ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting .627 from the floor entering Thursday's game. Langbehn won't be the only "shooter" on display over the weekend. Four of the Summit League's top-10 in field goal percentage will be playing in either Grand Forks or Fargo. Entering Thursday's game, Jordyn Schiller and Kiera Pemberton rank seventh (.481) and eighth (.480) in the Summit League in field goal percentage, while NDSU's Koenen (.578) and Abbie Draper (.536) rank third and fourth respectively.
Players Mentioned
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