Senior guard Maggie Negaard scored a team-high 14 points in St. Thomas women’s basketball’s 64-44 loss against North Dakota State Thursday at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (11-16, 6-11 Summit) lost to the Bison (17-10, 11-6, Summit), despite holding them to just 17 points in the first half.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to North Dakota State. They are a high powered team and they did a really nice job attacking us in the paint,” coach Ruth Sinn said.
The first quarter was a defensive battle for both teams as it was tied at 6-6 when Negaard scored with a back-door layup with under two minutes left in the first quarter. The Tommies stifled the Bison, holding them to just six total points in the first quarter, and causing six Bison turnovers.
“Defensively, I think the one thing we did well was we stuck to our principles,” Sinn said.
Despite their defensive efforts, St. Thomas was unable to pull away as the Bison’s aggressive defense kept them within striking distance, forcing the Tommies down to the last seconds of the shot clock on numerous possessions.
“We knew they were going to be a denial team, so we practiced a lot on that. Credit to them, they got us down to the shot clock,” Negaard said.
The Tommies did not trail during the second half until a North Dakota State jump shot put St. Thomas down 17-15. With under a minute left to play in the half, sophomore guard Jade Hill converted an and-one and put the Tommies up 18-17 going into halftime.
Despite the lead, St. Thomas was feeling the North Dakota State defensive pressure, shooting 0-7 from beyond the three-point line in the first half. Negaard, who often thrives when shooting from distance, needed to find new ways to score against the Bison.
“I love shooting the three ball but if it’s not falling, I’ve got to get to the free throw line. I talked to my coaches about that,” Negaard said.
The third quarter looked promising for St. Thomas when graduate guard Autam Mendez opened the half with a layup. However, with eight minutes left to play in the third quarter, the Tommies lost their lead. North Dakota State outscored St. Thomas 24-9 in the third quarter, bringing their lead to 41-27.
“Unfortunately the game is not 20 minutes long, it’s 40 minutes long and we kind of fell short especially in that third quarter. That third quarter really exposed us,” Sinn said.
Instead of the Tommies winning the turnover battle like in the first half, some crucial mistakes resulted in 12 St. Thomas turnovers in the second half.
“I think offensively, we got a little frantic rather than just playing in space and making purposeful cuts,” Sinn said.
Despite sophomore center Jo Langbehn’s back-to-back layups to start the final quarter, the Bison continued to pull away, putting together a lead of as much as 22 points halfway through the quarter. Negaard tried to spark a Tommie comeback with 11 fourth-quarter points, but it wasn’t enough as the Bison were able to hold a strong lead.
“We tried a couple quick hitters,” Negaard said, “and they were kind of forcing us out a little bit and we weren’t able to get really in and out in the second half.”
Despite the loss, Negaard still has the utmost confidence in her teammates leading into their last game of the season.
“We know that we can beat these teams so tonight was disappointing, but it’s the end of the season and we’ve got to have a short memory and attack the next one,” Negaard said.
The Tommies’ final matchup of the season will be on Saturday, Feb. 25 when they take on North Dakota for their senior night in front of a home crowd at Schoenecker Arena.
“We’ve got to do better because Saturday is going to be an even bigger game,” Sinn said. “We’re going to have to deal with those emotions and make it something special.”
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.