No. 4 South Dakota fought off a late rally to defeat No. 5 St. Thomas 70-57 in Sunday’s quarterfinal round of the 2024 Summit League Women’s Basketball Championships in Sioux Falls.
Walker Demers and Grace Larkins tallied the first points for the Yotes. A few possessions later, Larkins launched and buried a triple, putting USD up 9-0 and prompting St. Thomas’ Ruth Sinn to call a timeout, just four minutes into the first quarter.
A collision between Olivia Kieffer and Amber Scalia took both players out of the contest briefly. Kieffer returned in the first half, and Scalia returned to the bench after the half.
With four minutes left in the first frame, Jordyn Glynn drained the first three points for the Tommies, but the Yotes extended their lead, finishing the first quarter up 13-5.
USD outscored St. Thomas 11-10 in the second to hold a nine-point lead going into the half, 24-15.
Out of the half, consecutive USD triples forced Coach Sinn into a timeout, down 18-34.
Jade Hill and Glynn netted back-to-back triples for the Tommies to cut the USD lead to 14, leading to a USD timeout.
Nicole Avila-Ambrosi responded out of the break with a bucket for the Yotes, but Jordyn Lamker used an assist from Jo Langbehn to answer. The next few possessions were back and forth, with Alexi Hempe (USD), Carley Duffney (USD), and Amber Scalia (St. Thomas) getting in on the scoring. At the end of the third, USD held a 48-32 lead.
With just over four minutes left in the game, Scalie nailed a three-pointer to bring the Tommies within 11. After an offensive foul on USD, Scalia drained another one to make it 54-46 in favor of USD.
After Larkins netted two free throws, it was Scalia again for the Tommies, cutting the lead to nine. Olivia Kieffer responded with two more from the line for the Yotes. The late free throws would seal the game.
Coach Karius talked about perseverance in the postgame.
“The word that comes to mind is resilient… we really took care of business on the defensive end.”
She continued by mentioning the boost of confidence the team needed mid-game.
“We talked a lot about confidence, really… for us to shoot it the way that we did, it just took a second to regroup… It just took a couple of those made threes early in the third quarter for everybody to be able to breathe a sigh of relief.”
Carley Duffney felt good about the performance and was excited to look onward.
“It feels good to get one under our belt and look forward to the next game.”
Grace Larkins echoed Duffney’s statement.
“We’re excited. We just need to really be locked in on defense. South Dakota State is a great team.”
Larkins netted 29 points for USD, moving her into a tie for 17th on the program’s all-time scoring list. She also tallied eight rebounds and four assists, the latter of which moved her into ninth on the programs all-time assists list. Duffney drained 13 points and grabbed seven boards for the Yotes.
For St. Thomas, Coach Sinn had high praise.
“I’m really proud of our young ladies. Preseason coaches poll, they had us at eight.”
Sinn also commented on building blocks for next season.
“They are starting to understand what it takes to play the physicality, to play the schedule. I think our group this year has really done a great job of understanding the task at hand and being more solution based. I think that’s the next step… to be in the details, be consistent.”
Amber Scalia smiled when sharing her experience in the locker room post-collision with USD’s Olivia Kieffer.
“I was trying to fake my girl out, and I came back, and all of a sudden I’m like… we just hit heads so hard… the staff here was actually so awesome. I was like, ‘let’s get these stitches in quick.’ The guy was like ‘I need to run to my car,’ and I was like ‘okay, you better run then.’
It was clear the injury did not take a massive toll on Scalia, as she scored 22 points in 23 minutes.
Graduate student Jordyn Glynn is the only Division III transition player left and has played each of her five seasons under Coach Sinn. This being her final year, she spoke highly of her experience in St. Paul.
“I would not trade it for the world. I am honestly so blessed to be in this position.. I think credit to Ruth. Even back then we were practicing just as intense as we are now.”
Glynn also commented on the future of the Tommies.
“I’m excited to watch them grow.”
Sinn shared some final thoughts on graduate student Angelina Hammond’s one year in St. Paul, as well as Glynn’s career.
“Angie has done such a wonderful job for us. It has always been about ‘how do I impact others’ and I’ve been really proud of Angie and what she’s done… I can’t speak enough to Jordyn Glynn. She’s started for every Division I game we’ve had here. That speaks a lot to her, not because she scores a lot of points. She is what St. Thomas Women’s Basketball is, grit and fight, I’m really proud of her.”
The Tommies finished the season 7-6 in Summit play, and 15-15 overall.
The No. 4 Coyotes will face in-state rival and No. 1 South Dakota State at 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 11 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.