Sophomore guard Amber Scalia scored 14 points and played the entire game on Saturday, but wasn’t able to overcome a Denver scoring party that ended in a 67-61 loss for the Tommies at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (14-11, 6-5 Summit) had a poor shooting night that opened the door for the Pioneers (7-17, 4-7) to spoil senior night in St. Paul. The Tommies shot 2-19 from beyond the arc and typical three-point threat Scalia went 0-6.
Scalia says she’ll use the team’s next film session to identify what went wrong.
“I’ll definitely look at my shot just to see if there was something slightly off with that,” Scalia said.
The Pioneers came to St. Paul sitting two spots below St. Thomas in the conference standings at No. 7. In a competitive conference like the Summit League, anybody can beat anybody, and Denver proved just that. They started the game with a 7-0 run and held the Tommies scoreless for the first 3:46.
“Denver obviously had a worse record than us, but like, it doesn’t matter,” Scalia said. “Everyone is kind of at the same level here, and I think that’s the fun part of it. You get to play everyone, and it’s just going to be a battle either way.”
The Tommies tied the game by the end of the first quarter, and the back-and-forth race kicked off from there. Without outside shots falling, the Tommies made the paint their home. Scalia and junior guard Jade Hill attacked the rim and drew fouls while the junior frontcourt duo of forward Sammy Opichka and center Jo Langbehn battled down low.
No matter what St. Thomas did, it was hard to fend off the three-pronged offensive attack from Denver: Sophomore guards Jordan Jones and Emma Smith and graduate forward Makayla Minett each had at least 20 points and combined for 62 of Denver’s 67 total points.
“This is a high-powered offensive team,” coach Ruth Sinn said. “When it gets down to the end of the clock, it becomes isolation basketball, and we have to do a better job.”
The Tommies fought on, but the final lead change came when Minett scored a layup with just over three minutes left in the game, making it 58-57. A Denver three-pointer stretched the lead further, forcing St. Thomas to play aggressively and send the Pioneers to the free-throw line where they put the game away for good.
The final score put a small damper on the celebratory part of the game. The Tommies’ senior day included a ceremony to honor graduate forward Angie Hammond and graduate guard Jordyn Glynn.
Hammond is in her first and final season as a Tommie. The Hopkins, Minnesota native bounced around four schools before choosing her final home to be at St. Thomas. Sinn says she has been a “leader” in her one season.
“Angie came in and it was about, ‘How can I add value? How can I grow as a person, grow as a leader? How can I really be a part of a team?’ And so she did a really nice job with that,” Sinn said.
Jordyn Glynn is the last remaining player from St. Thomas’ days in Division III. She has dealt with season-ending injuries and COVID-shortened seasons and has remained at St. Thomas through it all. Sinn says you can’t measure what she has done for the program.
“I understand most of those D-III players. They said ‘We can’t do this,’ and she didn’t. But she continued to find ways and look at it as an opportunity for growth and opportunity, and how does she serve this team,” Sinn said.
St. Thomas will continue their season against South Dakota at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Sanford Coyotes Sports Center.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.