The St. Thomas women’s basketball team celebrate a win over the Omaha Mavericks on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Tommies won 75-62. (Evan Neubauer / The Crest) 
UST Women’s basketball coach Ruth Sinn shakes hands with the Omaha Mavericks after a 75-62 win. Sinn was honored at the beginning of the game for winning her 400th career game in January.(Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Tommie student athletes attend the “Confidence, Strength and Power” panel for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Tommie guard Amber Scalia reaches for the ball against Maverick center Harriet Ford. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
The Tommies strategize during a timeout. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest)
Current and former St. Thomas athletes gathered Feb. 5 to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day at a panel called “Confidence, Strength and Power.”
Senior Arianna Sanchez, a member of the women’s soccer team and the first Tommie class to play DI as a first-year, said she found support in women’s athletics on and off the field. After tearing her ACL her junior year, she joined the Black Student-Athlete Affinity Group, where she is now president.
“I really had a community, even when I didn’t realize it,” Sanchez said. When asked about her favorite memory in college athletics, she recalled walking onto the field for her first game after her injury to the roar of support from her teammates and the crowd. “I’m worth more than just who I am as a soccer player.”
Senior Associate Athletic Director and Women’s Administrator Amy Cooper said that attitudes towards women’s sports have changed since her own college career at Howard University.
“A full soccer team full of black women was confusing and intimidating to a lot of people,” she said at the panel.
Earlier in the day, Cooper was honored for earning the 2025 Wilma Rudolph Courage Award for her work ensuring future opportunities in athletics for girls and women. The National Coalition for Women in Sports Minnesota granted Cooper the award for overcoming various physical challenges in pursuit of athletic excellence.
“We have to allow women to be authentic and be themselves,” Cooper said.
Less than an hour after the day’s panel, women’s basketball head coach Ruth Sinn was honored for winning her 400th career game in January.
UST wrapped up the evening with a 75-62 win over the University of Nebraska Omaha. Junior Amber Scalia scored her 1,000th career point in the second quarter. At halftime, UST gathered its women’s athletes to be honored in front of a home crowd.
Cooper said that she is looking forward to a flourishing future of women’s sports, one where “no longer do we have to say that we’re the minority.”
Evan Neubauer can be reached at neub6662@stthomas.edu.
