Ruth Sinn’s career isn’t done just yet — her players made sure of as much Friday in Sioux Falls, S.D.
St. Thomas delivered a dominant performance in an 81-54 quarterfinal final win against Oral Roberts in the Summit League Tournament.
The Tommies led 44-19 at the break after a half in which they shot 60% from the field and outrebounded Oral Roberts 23-13. This all after the Golden Eagles blitzed St. Thomas by 15 points in the regular-season finale last weekend in Tulsa.
But the Tommies are playing with some added motivation this week, knowing this is the final postseason for Sinn, St. Thomas’ long-time, legendary coach. The Tommies hope to send their coach out with the program’s first Division-I NCAA Tournament berth.
That will require two more wins, starting with Saturday’s noon semifinal against top-seeded North Dakota State.
North Dakota State played its quarterfinal on Thursday. The Summit League Tournament gives its top-two seeds an added day of rest should they win their quarterfinal matchups as a reward for their regular season prowess, while St. Thomas will have to win three games in three days to secure the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
The fifth-seeded Tommies fell twice to the Bison during the regular season, suffering nine- and six-point defeats.
But if St. Thomas can mimic Friday’s performance, it will be a tough out.
Mikayla Werner paced the Tommies with 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting to go with nine boards. All five Tommies starters scored in double figures, with Alyssa Sand notching a double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots as St. Thomas surrendered just 22 points in the paint.
Oral Roberts shot just 31% from the field and 24% from distance.
A Faith Feuerbach triple put the Tommies up 7-6 with six and a half minutes to play in the opening frame, and St. Thomas led the rest of the way from there.
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