Junior center Jo Langbehn’s 12 points couldn’t make a dent in North Dakota’s lead during St. Thomas’ 96-53 defeat Thursday night at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (14-13, 6-7 Summit) lost their fourth game in a row, while the Bison (17-9, 11-2 Summit) extended their win streak to six games. St. Thomas still sits fifth in the conference standings, keeping them ahead of the play-in games come the Summit League Championship tournament on March 8.
“North Dakota State is a very tough matchup with us and for us with their length, with their athleticism, and really you know, the way they were shooting the ball tonight. And we didn’t have a lot of answers to that,” coach Ruth Sinn said.
The 43-point blow was led by Bison sophomore guard Elle Evans, who scored 22 points Thursday night. Entering the game, Evans averaged 18.8 points per game and 52.5% from three-point distance against Summit League opponents.
“She’s a tough matchup, she’s a really tough matchup,” Sinn said. “She’s got length, she’s got quickness, she’s got athleticism. I thought there was times that we did really well. There was a couple of times that we lost her on some back screens and we can’t do that.”
St. Thomas has their own elite shooter and volume scorer in sophomore guard Amber Scalia, but she’s suffered a series of poor shooting performances over the past few games. Scalia, who is averaging 16.6 points per game and 35.9% from beyond the arc, is only 1-15 from distance during the Tommies’ four-game skid.
Scalia only took one three-pointer on Thursday night, but Sinn hasn’t lost any confidence in Scalia and has faith that she’ll emerge from her shooting slump.
“Amber is one of the best shooters around, but you know this game. This game is played by people, and there’s times with people in competition that doubt and uncertainty creep in,” Sinn said. “Amber, in her situation if she sees rim, I know the two people in front of me would agree with this, she should shoot it every time.”
The Tommies’ offensive effort had to come from elsewhere on Thursday, so Langbehn and sophomore guard Faith Feuerbach had to step into more involved roles on the court.
Langbehn, who has the highest field goal percentage in the Summit League by a large margin at 67%, hopes to be more involved in the offense in the future.
“I think I need to go and command, like demand the ball and go for it and then initiate more,” Langbehn said.
Feuerbach was one of two Tommies to make more than one three-pointer on her way to ten points. She noted that many of her teammates have scoring capabilities, it just comes down to opportunities.
“We all have the skill, and we all have the talent and the trust in each other. I just think we all just got to know when our time is, and when that spot opens,” Feuerbach said.
St. Thomas was on a collision course with a hot North Dakota State team that had one of its best offensive nights of conference play on Thursday. Four Bison players scored in the double-digits and three more scored nine points.
While one player can’t change a whole game, it didn’t help that the Tommies are still without junior guard Phoebe Frentzel, and are 2-4 in her absence. Frentzel has 29 steals on the season and is in the top 5 of defensive efficiency for St. Thomas.
“We do miss her because she’s such a hardworking player for us,” Sinn said. “So we’re hoping we’ll get her back by the end of the season.”
The loss to North Dakota State was the first game in the Tommies’ final home stint. The Bison are the No. 2 team in the Summit League, and St. Thomas will have to play conference leader South Dakota State in just a day and a half.
“We’ll do a little about preparation about SDSU, but you know, a lot of it is about us,” Sinn said. “The biggest thing at this point of the season is the teams that are successful, are the teams that, they don’t beat themselves.”
The Tommies tipoff against South Dakota State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Schoenecker Arena.
“I’m very confident going into that game,” Feuerbach said.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.