The St. Thomas women’s basketball team beat the Hamline Pipers (5-9 overall, 4-7 MIAC) 69-62 Monday afternoon. The win puts the Tommies in a tie for first place in the MIAC with St. Ben’s (21-1 overall, 9-1 MIAC).

Last week’s five-point loss to St. Catherine’s, which ended a 12-game MIAC winning streak, weakened the team’s confidence during Monday’s game against Hamline, coach Ruth Sinn said.

“When you come off a loss like we did, you start questioning what was wrong,” Sinn said. “The first half, you saw that. We were tentative. We weren’t decisive, confident and in control.”

Throughout the first half, the two teams went back and forth for the lead. With a last-second shot by junior Sarah Smith, the Tommies went into the locker room leading 30-29, committing 11 turnovers to the Pipers’ four.

“Throughout the season, you are always trying to figure out your identity as a team,” Sinn said. “We really talked to them at halftime about what is our identity, and that we better just completely invest in that 100 percent.”

Late in the second half, freshmen Taylor Young and Maggie Weiers scored a combined 21 points in a 28-12 run that gave the Tommies the advantage over the Pipers. The Tommies also had the rebounding advantage 45-31.

“In the second half, I thought we still made mistakes, but they were mistakes that we went after and took chances on, rather than being so passive,” Sinn said. “We started really investing in our belief system, so I thought the girls really did a nice job at that.”

The win puts the Tommies’ record at 10-3 overall and 9-1 in the MIAC. The Tommies plays Macalester (3-10 overall, 3-7 MIAC) Wednesday night at home.

Maggie Clemensen can be reached at clem0427@stthomas.edu.