The women’s basketball team started a run of wins over J-Term with a bang by posting a 24-point blowout win over the Bethel Royals on Jan. 6. Junior Rachel Booth’s double-double in the game (14 points, 10 rebounds) and junior Becky Theisen’s 17 points off the bench helped St. Thomas shake a two-game losing streak.

The victory was the first of seven for St. Thomas over J-Term, including wins in five of its last six games over break. The Tommies had wins over Carleton, St. Bens, Hamline, St. Olaf, Augsburg and Macalester. Two of the Tommies’ losses came at the hands of conference co-leader Gustavus and a sharpshooting Concordia team that sank nine threes against St. Thomas.

Booth, a St. Cloud State transfer, has hit the ground running at St. Thomas, and her success continued over J-Term. Booth had four double-doubles over the span of seven J-Term games while being the team’s leading or co-leading scorer six times and its rebounding leader another six times.

During J-Term, the Tommies held four different teams below 50 points while scoring less than 60 points only twice themselves.

The team’s goals for the rest of the season reflect the maturation of the comparatively young squad. Rather than dwelling on the past, they’re looking to control the future.

“Our goals are to finish the regular season with a winning record and hopefully in the top three in the conference due to our previous losses…to pull out with the MIAC tournament championship, giving us an automatic bid into the NCAA [tournament],” junior forward Jazmin Townsend said. “Overall, we just want to succeed.”

Ben Katzner can be reached at bekatzner@stthomas.edu.