The St. Thomas women’s basketball team will have a special battle cry this week when it competes in the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota — with “cry” being the operative word.
“Do it for Ruth” will be the mantra as long as the Tommies can stay alive in the tournament, with coach Ruth Sinn having announced that she is retiring after leading the program for 21 years.
St. Thomas women’s basketball coach Ruth Sinn. (St. Thomas Athletics)
“She’s given so much to this program,” senior guard Faith Feuerbach said. “To send her off on a high note just adds a ton of fire to us.”
The Tommies (15-15 overall, 8-8 in the Summit) are the No. 5 seed and open play on Friday afternoon against No. 4 Oral Roberts. They’re looking at the game as just the start of something big.
“It would be awesome to go to the championship and send her off on the biggest note since we became Division I,” sophomore forward Alyssa Sand said. “We believe in each other and know that it’s possible, so we just want to make it happen for her.”
Sinn, a self-described basketball junkie, considers March Madness her “favorite holiday.” She’s prepared to savor being a part of it one last time.
“The beauty of this game is twofold,” Sinn said. “No. 1, the person you become. No. 2 is the impact that (the players) have. As a coach, the person I have become because of this program and because of these young women is insurmountable — (how) I have grown, and the impact.”
St. Thomas athletics honored Sinn prior to the team’s final home game on Feb. 25. She has coached basketball for 45 years, and among those in attendance were players she coached in grade school and high school, along with so many former Tommies.
It was an emotional night for all involved.
“As I told them, I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to be in contact and have a journey with such wonderful people,” Sinn said.
Sand spoke for her teammates and undoubtedly for past Tommies players who she said she’ll remember Sinn for her passion and intensity.
“We feed off that,” Sand said. “It’s just so nice to have a coach who cares that much about you as a player you, as a person. It makes you want to be so much more invested.”
Added Feuerbach: “She inspires us off the court, too. That’s a huge thing. She wants us to be strong, confident women. That’s something I’m thankful for and grateful for.”
The Tommies enter the tournament believing they are playing their best basketball of the season, having won five of their last seven games. The roster is young and inexperienced — Sands is the only returning starter from last season — and the Tommies dealt with the predictable growing pains.
Sinn said the difference between the team now compared to what it was at the start of the season is “night and day.”
The Tommies won five straight from Nov. 30 to Dec. 13 in advance of conference play. The inexperience and unfamiliarity of playing with one another started to become less of an issue.
“At this time of year, Coach says that all our freshmen are sophomores now and all our sophomores are juniors,” Feuerbach said, “because we have been playing basically since June together.
“As a leader, I’m just trying to build them up and encourage them. They all have a ton of skill, a lot of talent, and I know with the right encouragement that it will come out this postseason.”
Sands sees a commitment to being more consistent as the catalyst for the Tommies’ improved play down the stretch.
“Everyone says you want to be playing your best basketball in March,” she said. “So, I think that has sort of been coming through this past month. We trust each other and encourage each other, and I think right now that is the biggest thing you can do.”
The Tommies ended the regular season with a 67-52 loss at Oral Roberts. The Tommies beat the Golden Eagles 71-66 at Anderson Arena on Feb. 11.
“We’re really not worrying about them now, just trying to fix our correctives and getting back to how we played the first game, and how we can use that to motivate us,” Sands said. “They’re fresh in our minds, so I think that is going to help a lot.”
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