St. Thomas guards Lucia Renikoff and Maddie Wolkow and senior all-American center Kaitlin Langer led the St. Thomas women’s basketball team to the Final Four after a 65-48 victory in the Elite Eight over Whitman College in the NCAA Division III tournament Saturday at Steve Fritz Court.
Whitman (26-5) came out with an evident game plan to shut down St. Thomas (31-0) all-American Kaitlin Langer, who managed to still fill the stat sheet with 18 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Tommie guards Lucia Renikoff and Maddie Wolkow combined for an impressive six-for-ten from the three-point line.
“We’ve talked about how we have to look for everything that everybody can bring, and then we just have to play off that,” St. Thomas head coach Ruth Sinn said. “And that’s what they did.”
The Blues double-teamed Langer on the defensive end from the opening tip. Though Langer only put up two points in the first quarter, she still made her presence felt by grabbing seven rebounds and making a number of big defensive plays. The first quarter ended with a 17-10 Tommie lead.
“We did a pretty good job of employing in and out once we figured out where the double was coming from,” Langer said. “It was something different but it’s not something we haven’t seen before.”
The Tommies went on a 10-3 scoring run to start the second quarter, capitalized by a Langer and-one with 4:55 left. The Blues quickly called a timeout and went on a run of their own after making adjustments in their huddle, bringing the Tommie lead to a closer margin in the final seconds of the half. That’s when St. Thomas guard Lucia Renikoff drained a three-point buzzer shot to bring the score to 33-23 going into halftime.
“Energy plays like that at the end of the half definitely translate to the next quarter,” Renikoff said.
The energy translated into the third quarter as Renikoff and Wolkow shot lights-out from the field, combining for 11 out of the Tommies’ 15 points in the quarter. The third quarter ended with St. Thomas leading 48-36.
The Tommies finished the game strong in the fourth quarter with the crowd chanting “Final Four” as time expired. Players and coaches then stepped up the ladder to cut down the nets and solidify the section victory.
“We know our identity,” Sinn said, “and if we can continue to play to our identity, we’re going to do well.”
St. Thomas will play Tufts University (29-2) in the Final Four on Friday, March 17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Gamiel Hall can be reached at hall0211@stthomas.edu.