The third-ranked St. Thomas women’s basketball team will tip off its season this weekend in Saratoga Springs, New York, when it takes on Connecticut College on Friday and Bowdoin College on Saturday.

After the 2016-17 campaign, which saw a MIAC championship, a 31-1 overall record and a national semifinal appearance, expectations for this year’s team are high, regardless of the fact that three starters – Kaitlin Langer, Paige Gernes and Gabby Zehrer – were lost in graduation.

“It’s a new era,” head coach Ruth Sinn said. “It’s a new opportunity for this group – these seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen – to put their mark on it.”

Though last year’s season ended on a tough 60-57 Final Four loss to Tufts University, this year’s group believes that experience will help them in their run this season.

“We learned a lot, especially how a few plays can really swing the momentum of the game,” center Hannah Spaulding said. “We learned to value the small details, but also how attainable our end goals really are.”

Sinn is also a believer that last year’s experience will help her team in the long run.

“When (the coaching staff) first started out here at St. Thomas, it was ‘how do we get our team into that national stage and what does that national stage look like?’,” she said. “ Now, we’re very comfortable that we understand what the national stage looks like, what it feels like and what it is all about.”

Without the 2017 National Player of the Year, Kaitlin Langer, to play in the paint, the Tommies will have some big shoes to fill at center. 

Spaulding, who Sinn says “could’ve started for a lot of programs” last season, is expected to fill those shoes.

“Kaitlin Langer followed Maggie Weiers, who was an All-American as well,” Sinn said. “Kaitlin was not Maggie. Maggie had a different skill set. Kaitlin had a different skill set. Hannah’s going to follow Kaitlin, but she’s going to do it in her own way.”

Spaulding plans to use all that she learned in her time under Langer to help move into the starting role this season.

“Getting to learn from Kait the last two years I think has really prepared me for this year,” she said. “Not many players get to learn from and compete against an All-American everyday in practice.”

There will also be voids to fill at the guard positions, as Paige Gernes and Gabby Zehrer walked with Langer at graduation last May.

“Even though we did graduate three, we have a big group of them that have a lot of game time experience,” Sinn said.

Spaulding, Kaylie Brazil, Lucia Renikoff, Maddie Wolkow, Lauren Fischer and Elsa Anderson are a part of that group and are expected to be some of the team’s key players.

Projected starting lineup:
G Kaylie Brazil
G Lucia Renikoff
G Maddie Wolkow
F Lauren Fischer
C Hannah Spaulding

Other notable returners:
C Elsa Anderson
G Sarah Krynski
G Janelle Alba-Garner
F Mackenzie Denk

“I think this year the team will be a lot more balanced overall, which can be a strength for us,” Spaulding said. “Each game, every player has the potential of scoring more or bringing more intensity on the defensive end.”

Sinn put it simply.

“We’re deep,” she said.

Sinn and Spaulding are reluctant to make any predictions for this year’s team without having played a regular season game. However, Spaulding hinted that she believes they “could do something really special.”

Right now, the team is focused on the task at hand: The trip to New York.

“The first few games of the season, it’s really about understanding what your defensive identity is and what your offensive identity is and how can you stay true to that,” Sinn said. “If we can come away this weekend committed to really understanding our identity and how we have to navigate to control these games, then we’ll be successful.”

Gamiel Hall can be reached at hall0211@stthomas.edu.