SALEM, Virginia — Two back-to-back 3-pointers by Kelsie Cox and Lucia Renikoff sparked the Tommies comeback at the beginning of the second half, but unfortunately, wasn’t enough to get the job done.
The St. Thomas women’s basketball team’s journey ended just shy of the NCAA Division III National Championship game after losing 71-60 to Bowdoin College at the Cregger Center on Friday.
“Our goal was to get to that National Championship game and see what we could do,” coach Ruth Sinn said. “That was a goal, but the way we lived the journey…we did not fall short.”
The Tommies were led by senior center Hannah Spaulding who finished out her career with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Senior Lucia Renikoff chipped in 12 points while sophomore Kaia Porter added another 11.
St. Thomas struggled to score in the first half, heading into halftime down 33-25, but came out controlling the tempo by hitting two 3-pointers.
“We were showing some body language when we were making mistakes so we definitely wanted to fix that and we did,” Reinkoff said. “We executed our game plan of rebound and run, so that’s what really fueled that run for us.”
Getting the Polar Bears in rotation and passing the ball in and out helped the Tommies go on a run for a brief period, leading 56-51 in the beginning of the fourth quarter. .
However, it didn’t last long enough.
The Polar Bears senior-based team made a few too many runs and plays, which hurt the Tommies in the end.
Although St. Thomas’ defense held Bowdoin’s leading scorer, Taylor Choate, to 14 points, Polar Bear forward Maddie Hasson led the team (31-1) with 25 points.
The Tommies made stops when needed, but struggled to convert off of missed shots in the final two minutes.
Spaulding fouled out but handled each call with class.
“As a team we talk a lot about it, just to see it as an opportunity. Every time you get to play, you get to be challenged,” Spaulding said. “It was fun to go and compete every game not knowing what they were going to throw at us.”
Even though it wasn’t quite the ending the Tommies had hoped for, they reflect on a remarkable season.
It started with the seniors and carried all the way down to the first-year students.
“When we started this year we knew we had something special, but we knew we had to get our standards up to that of championship level,” Sinn said. “We talked about our defense, offense and how we have to play together, and they bought into exactly what we were talking about.”
St. Thomas graduates their three senior captains: Hannah Spaulding, Kaylie Brazil and Lucia Reinkoff.
“To get back to this moment, this is exactly where we wanted to be,” Reinkoff said. “Obviously we wanted to go one more game, but I don’t think we would change anything about this season.”
The Tommies fought until the last buzzer sounded and ended their season with a 30-2 record.
They may not have made it to the national championship, but they end their 2018-2019 journey on a high note with one another.
“It’s the family and the friendships that come out of it that are the most important,” Reinkoff said.
Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu.