Both St. Thomas basketball programs are on the hunt for their first Summit League titles and NCAA tournament bids. The Summit League Basketball Championships begin Wednesday at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Women’s basketball
No. 4 St. Thomas women’s basketball plays No. 5 Oral Roberts Friday at noon.
The Tommies earned their spot after an 8-8 Summit League campaign and a 15-15 overall finish.
“We’re really excited about this opportunity, and we are going to make the most of it,” coach Ruth Sinn said. “Our team is at a position where we have really got a great nucleus of young women that understand who they are and how we have to play together.”
Sophomore forward Alyssa Sand was named First Team All-Summit League and All-Defensive Team, both program firsts. She enters the tournament leading the team in points, steals, blocks and rebounds per game.
Jada Hood earned a spot on the All-Newcomer team after joining Sinn’s squad from Christian Brothers University. She averaged 8.9 points per game and led UST with her 106 season assists.
“The one thing I love about Jada is that she plays with such passion and she plays with such energy, and you know she’s going to leave everything on the floor,” Sinn said.
St. Thomas is inexperienced in postseason competition compared to the rest of the Summit League. Just Sand and senior guard Faith Feuerbach played in last year’s 80-67 quarterfinal to North Dakota.
“We’ve obviously been playing since June basically, together,” Feuerbach said. “So they’re very well equipped for any of the moments that come for them. As a leader, I’m definitely just trying to build them up and encourage them.”
UST beat the Golden Eagles 71-66 on Feb. 11 at Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, but lost 67-52 in the final game of the regular season.
“Yeah, they’re fresh in our minds, so I think that’s going to help a lot, knowing how they play and their players. But, I think (we are) just trying to fix ourselves right now,” Sand said.
Each game is a chance to extend Sinn’s career, as the winningest coach in program history will retire at the end of the season.
The winner of Friday’s matchup moves on to the semifinal game, with the opponent still to be decided by a Wednesday evening play-in between No. 8 Omaha and No. 9 North Dakota, and a following quarterfinal matchup between the winner and No. 1 North Dakota State.
Men’s Basketball
The No. 2 ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team is preparing to face the No. 7 South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Thursday night.
The Tommies just concluded their regular season with an overall record of 23-8 and 12-4 in conference. The team has earned the 16th spot in the Collegeinsider.com Men’s Mid-major Top 25.
“Everyone’s coming together right now. Defensively, we’ve been playing so well and everyone’s buying into just winning,” graduate student guard Ryan Dufault said.
Six conference accolades were awarded to the Tommies on Tuesday afternoon. Leading the Tommies in scoring this season with 19.8 points per game, sophomore guard Nolan Minnesale was named First-Team All-Summit and Summit All-Defensive Team.
Junior forward Carter Bjerke, who hit a program record 10 3-pointers on Feb. 1 against Kansas City, was named an All-Summit League Honorable Mention.
First-year guard Nick Janowski, who transferred to St. Thomas after a redshirt season at Nebraska, earned a place on First Team All-Summit and the Summit All-Newcomer Team. Janowski was also named the Summit League Freshman of the Year. This season, he averaged 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds with a three-point shooting percentage of 35.8%.
“Even though some of these guys have really, really impressive statistics, I think the most impressive part is how they do what the team needs,” coach Johnny Tauer said.
Tauer credits the team’s recent wins against No.1 North Dakota State and No. 5 Omaha to the team’s offensive synergy that has grown stronger throughout the season. The Tommies led the country in 2-point shooting percentage at 63.9% this season.
“I think we’re really connected, and I think we’re kind of peaking at the right time,” Minnesale said.
With St. Thomas’ Division I transition being fully complete, all sports at the university are now eligible to take part in postseason play, including NCAA March Madness. If the Tommies win the Summit League Championship, they will qualify for the tournament.
“I’ve had trouble not thinking about it, you know, as the season’s gone on, but, you know, we just got to play the same way and don’t do anything different,” Dufault said.
The winner of St. Thomas vs. South Dakota State will play on Saturday in the Denny Sanford Premier Center against the winner of the University of North Dakota vs. Denver game.
Owen Bell can be reached at bell9606@stthomas.edu.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.
