As the St. Thomas women’s basketball team prepares for its departure Thursday to Holland, Mich., for the Final Four, both Coach Sinn and the players reflected on their summer trip to Italy and how the extra time together helped form a strong team identity, which has played a key part in its success this season.

The No. 10-ranked Tommies, who were not ranked at the beginning of the season, had the opportunity to practice and scrimmage local teams abroad in Rome and Florence before the season started.

Sinn said there is “no question” that the trip solidified the team’s foundation.

“In those six practices, we put down an idea of what (type of team) we wanted to be, the culture we wanted to form and how we were going to act in that culture,” Sinn said. “We were going to be very inclusive; we were going to be very empowering. We were not going to be about drama.”

Junior guard Kellie Ring called the Italy trip “an amazing experience.”

“We got extra time to practice and play together for the trip, but we also got to spend so much free time bonding and becoming even better friends,” Ring said.

One for the record books

This season marks the Tommies’ fifth Final Four appearance in school history and first since 2000. The team is 30-1 and has won 30 games in a row; it is the first 30-win season in program history, and the winning streak is a single-season record.

Sinn said while the winning streak and success are great, the relationships formed between the players are what’s truly rewarding.

“This is a special group,” Sinn said. “They have bought into each other; they have bought into our system. When those things happen… I like our chances.”

Sophomore forward Taylor Young said the team never gets complacent or lets the winning streak go to its heads.

“We just take it one game at a time and focus on winning when it matters,” Young said.

Sinn-sational

Coach Sinn was recently named the West Region Coach of the Year. In her seven seasons at St. Thomas, Sinn’s overall record is 135-58.

Ring said that Sinn deserves the award because she is dedicated to the team.

“She always make sure that we are always more prepared for every single team and that we know them inside and out,” Ring said.

This postseason is not Sinn’s first dance in the NCAA tournament. In 1984, she went to the tournament as a senior guard for the Tommies’ first-ever playoff team.

Sinn said her tournament experience as a player was “overwhelming,” so she and her staff have tried to educate the players on what to expect and how to be prepared.

“We’ve tried to paint the picture so the players can visualize themselves in it,” Sinn said.

All about the Titans

St. Thomas will be facing just its third ranked opponent this season when it tips off against Illinois Wesleyan on Friday, March 16. The No. 16-ranked Titans are 26-5, and their five losses all came before Christmas to nationally-ranked teams. They are in the Final Four for the second straight year and finished fourth last season.

Senior guard Olivia Lett leads the Titans with 21.7 points per game. Lett was recently named the Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s (CCIW) most outstanding player and made the Central Region’s first team. Illinois Wesleyan’s coach Mia Smith was named the Central Region’s Coach of the Year. According to Sinn, the Titans are a “great team” that the Tommies need to control.

“The team does a lot of pressing, so we are going to try to control the game tempo,” Sinn said.

Young said her team is taking a different approach to its defense against the Titans, starting with how to guard Lett.

“We are going to let her score her points and not double her,” Young said. “We are going to hold the rest of her team to single digits.”

On the other side of the bracket, Amherst (31-0) is ranked No. 1 and George Fox (31-0) is ranked No. 3. Amherst is the defending national champion, and George Fox won it all in 2009.

Ring said she is excited to play either team because they have been called the best in the nation since the season started.

“Now we have the opportunity to play them and beat them,” Ring said.

Hayley Schnell can be reached at schn3912@stthomas.edu.