Saturday at Schoenecker Arena capped a flawless run toward the MIAC title for the St. Thomas women’s basketball team as the Tommies defeated the Bethel Royals 65-51 to remain undefeated this season.
Senior guard Jenna Dockter led the Tommies (27-0 overall, 18-0 MIAC) with 18 points and also added 4 rebounds. Dockter said winning the MIAC championship while going undefeated is something the team has been striving for for months.
“It means so much. We have a big, senior-laden team this year, and we’ve been looking forward to this since August. So it’s definitely just the greatest feeling ever and with a great team,” Dockter said.
Although Dockter led the way in points, she could not have done so without stout team defense. Dockter and senior center Maggie Weiers agreed defense was key in the victory. Weiers notched 19 total rebounds – with 16 of them coming on the defensive end – and tallied 14 points.
“We really had to play defense because last time we played them it was a really offensive game,” Weiers said. “So we just wanted to make it a slower game and slow them down and obviously we did that.”
Coach Ruth Sinn had the same stance and added that the team’s previous contest against Bethel was a good measuring stick.
“One of the things I think we did well was we controlled the tempo of the game,” Sinn said. “If you look at the first game we played against them, it was 81-77. We don’t give up 77 points. That was one of the things I told the girls. That’s not the way that we play. We play much more of a defensive game.”
Early in the first half, senior forward Anna Smith went down with a knee injury. Smith attempted to return to the game twice more before going down for a final time right before halftime. Smith has battled knee injuries throughout her career and has been a key player for the Tommies in her senior season. Sinn said they are unsure what to expect of the injury.
“We don’t know what it is right now,” Sinn said. “Worst case scenario, she re-tore her ACL. So she’s going to the doctors, and we hope it’s not that, but right now, the way it’s looking with stability, it could be. She has an MRI scheduled tomorrow, and she’s got an appointment already with her physician on Monday.”
Losing Smith would be a huge blow to the unblemished Tommies, but one of their biggest strengths all year has been their depth.
“When you have 8 seniors in your group, and they’re talking about trying to leave a mark, sometimes things like (an undefeated season) can happen,” Sinn said. “Because they went through what they went through their freshman year, they got a taste of what it was like. After their freshman year it was kind of like, ‘We want to get back there.’”
The next stop for St. Thomas is the NCAA tournament where the Tommies will do all they can to bring home some hardware as they test their mettle against the nation’s best.
Andrew Frentz can be reached at fren2218@stthomas.edu.