St. Thomas women’s basketball coach Ruth Sinn coaches from the sidelines in Wednesday’s 73-71 victory over Kansas City. Sinn is retiring after her 25th season with more than 400 wins. (Milla Mirkovic/The Crest) 
The Tommies won in the final seconds, ending 17-13 on the season. (Milla Mirkovic/The Crest) 
Sinn was honored for her achievements before the game. (Milla Mirkovic/The Crest) 
The Tommies will cap off their season against Oral Roberts Saturday. (Milla Mirkovic/The Crest). 
Sinn reached the Final Four three times in her coaching career. (Milla Mirkovic/The Crest)
In a night filled with emotions, the University of St. Thomas women’s basketball team gave head coach Ruth Sinn a sendoff worthy of her legacy Wednesday night, narrowly beating Kansas City 73-71 in her final home game in the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.
The Tommies were able to steal the conference win with late scoring from senior guards Faith Feuerbach and Jada Hood. Feuerbach nailed a quick layup with 11 seconds left, and Hood sealed the win with a clutch, contested layup in the final four seconds after a steal from first-year forward Autumn McCall.
“I was just talking to God by myself. Don’t let it go out like this. I want to win. We need to win our last home game. I wanted to do that, not just for my team, but also for Ruth,” Hood said.
Prior to the game, a spotlight found Sinn at center court as St. Thomas Athletic Director Phil Esten presented her with a framed No. 30 jersey, her number when she played at St. Thomas from 1980-84.
St. Thomas players donned pink shirts in honor of former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Sandra Kay Yow, who passed away after a 22-year battle with breast cancer. The shirts support the Play4Kay campaign, a fundraising initiative that fights all forms of cancer affecting women.
As Sinn’s numerous career accolades were listed for the entire arena to hear, the crowd of students, athlete’s parents, Sinn’s family, coaches and Sinn’s former players rose for a standing ovation. Her current players then ran to encircle her for a group hug, covering the St. Thomas logo at center court with a swarm of pink.
“It’s our pink game, it’s our last home game, and most importantly, it’s Ruth’s last game at home, and we just wanted to give her this win so badly,” Feuerbach said.
As old photographs of Sinn as a player and coach were displayed on the screens in the arena during timeouts, fans were reminded of her 25 years of success at St. Thomas.
Sinn’s journey at St. Thomas began in 1980 when she was recruited as a player. Sinn, coached by Tom Kosel and Ted Riverso, helped the team secure their first two conference championships in her junior and senior years.
“She was a point guard. Thought the game, saw the game. You know, she had everything you’d want in a point guard,” Riverso said. “She could shoot the ball, she could handle the ball, she could execute plays. You know, she was a good player. Well, she’s in the Hall of Fame.”
Sinn, captain of her team in her senior year and two-time all-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honoree, was among the first seven women inducted into the St. Thomas Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.
After her time as a player for St. Thomas, Sinn coached at Woodbury, Hill-Murray and Apple Valley high schools, winning eight section championships and compiling a 290-170 record with Apple Valley. Sinn was named section Coach of the Year five times. In 2005, Sinn returned to St. Thomas as the new head coach of the women’s team.
“I thought she was going to have a career in high school coaching. I had no idea that she was interested in coaching at the college level,” Riverso said.
Across her 16 seasons coaching the Tommies in Division III, Sinn achieved a 355-88 record, with 250 of those wins occurring from 2010-21. This stretch was the best 10-year win percentage of any MIAC sports program.
Within this stretch, Sinn brought the Tommies to three NCAA Final Fours, made it to three Sweet Sixteens, won 13 of 18 possible conference championships, and was named MIAC Coach of the Year four times in 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017.
After all of the Division III success, Sinn and the Tommies made a monumental jump to play in Division I basketball.
“I think it is a better fit for them, because her players were just better than the players in the MIAC,” Riverso said.
Every year since the transition, Sinn has improved the team’s record, climbing from ninth in the Summit League conference in 2021 (7-21, 4-14 Summit) to fourth in 2025 (17-13, 9-7).
“Our first couple of years when we were Division I, we were just the underdogs,” said Maggie Negaard, guard for St. Thomas women’s basketball from 2021-23. “She just really wanted us to just go out there and play our hearts out and give it our all.”
Sinn encourages her players to not only give it their all on the court, but also off the court in daily life.
“Coach Sinn would do anything for her family, including her players. We’re her big family,” Hood said.
15 of Sinn’s former players are now involved in coaching or teaching roles, including Negaard, now a graduate assistant for Concordia University St. Paul’s women’s basketball team.
“You know, whatever happens during and after your athletic career, it is just really comforting to know that coach Sinn cared about you more than if you made a shot or if you missed it,” Negaard said. “That’s just something I really wanted to take into my coaching philosophy that I think is valuable.”
Sinn’s skill as a coach brought St. Thomas years of dominance, but her players said they have gained much more than just basketball knowledge.
“Coach Sinn has been an absolute blessing in all of our lives, and I think for us, we’re obviously not ready for her to go, but we’re just so proud to be able to call someone like her, not just a coach, but our best friend, a person that we can go to no matter what,” Hood said.
Sinn and her Tommies still have one last regular season game at Oral Roberts on Saturday. The team hopes to solidify their fourth-seed position in the Summit League ahead of the upcoming conference tournament.
“I’m not going to cry that it’s over. I’m just going to smile that it happened, because I’m just so blessed,” Sinn said.
UST will wrap up the regular season against Oral Roberts Saturday at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Owen Bell can be reached at bell9606@stthomas.edu.
