It had been coming for Jade Hill. 
 
The St. Thomas junior, already a well-rounded player, focused on becoming more of a scoring and facilitating hybrid guard over the offseason. That included, she said in October, work on her shot that she had been doing with first-year Tommies’ assistant coach Kyle Lurvey.
 
On Saturday, the fruits of that work showed up big. 
 
Hill’s buzzer-beating three against Oral Roberts was arguably UST’s most exciting moment to-date since joining Division I. Moreover, it was an early shockwave in what is shaping up to be a wide-open, thrilling race to determine the upper tier of the conference standings. 
 
The Tommies, for their part, have continued to climb the ladder this year. At 11-7, they’re on track to blow past their win total from last season (13), and are being led by their star backcourt duo of Hill and sophomore Amber Scalia. 
 
“They do a really great job,” head coach Ruth Sinn said about the pair in December. “They’re constantly looking at how to be facilitators for others.” 
 
That was there in the final moments against the Golden Eagles. 
 
It was Scalia converting a four-point play to tighten up the game with the Tommies trailing 66-60 with just over two minutes left. She was then pivotal to Hill’s game winner. Like moths to a flame, the Golden Eagle defense converged on Scalia as she got the inbound pass in the corner before flipping it to Hill for an open three. 
 
That pair has fueled the Tommies’ hot start. That final play has usually been seen in reverse this season, with Hill – second in the league in assists per game (4.3) – frequently setting up Scalia’s (17.0 ppg, third in the Summit). That offensive breakout from a player like Scalia was something Sinn hinted at before the season. 
 
At media day, she was asked about how the program would replace Maggie Negaard, the team’s leading scorer in 2022-23. The longtime UST head coach said it would be tough, but that Negaard’s journey, which saw her go from role player to go-to option over her two years at UST, was exactly how the team could move forward. 
 
There were players ready to step up. 
 
“I’ve got seniors and juniors ready for their turn, ready to make their mark on our program,” Sinn said. 
 
While just a sophomore, Scalia has certainly been one of them. After being a bit player last year (15.1 mpg, 4.7 ppg), she’s thrived from distance (35.5 3P%), and has had the odd game where she’s been sent to the line in bulk and made the opposition, with four games in which she’s made eight or more free throws. T
 
That’s all been complemented by Hill, who is now in her third year as one of the best point guards in the conference, averaging a career-high 14.6 points per game to go along with her playmaking. That puts her in the top ten in the league, and has been aided by that summer work she put on shooting. The Minneapolis native is having a career year shooting the ball (38.9 FG%) and is, for the first time, making over one three-pointer per game. 
 
For her part, Jo Langbehn has also been among the upperclassmen taking strides forward. The junior has been a constant for UST paint, nearly doubling her rebounding average (6.1 rpg) from last year, and sitting at sixth in the league in total rebounding percentage. 
 
There are certainly still areas for the Tommies to develop, like finding ways to be less reliant on Scalia and Hill, as Sinn mentioned after the team hosted Wisconsin in December. Their trip to South Dakota State last week – as it does for many teams – proved to still be a bridge too far as they took a 20-point loss. 
 
But thus far, it has been a resoundingly successful season. 
 
The bounceback win against Taleyah Jones and Oral Roberts was packed with narrative significance. The Golden Eagles were themselves flying, bringing a six-game winning streak to St. Paul after winning at South Dakota for the first time since 2011-12. 
 
Objectively, ORU (#134) was also the second-highest rated NET team the Tommies have beaten in their brief Division I era, currently topped only by Fort Wayne (#126) earlier this year. For context, their best NET win last year was North Dakota (#184) on the final day of the regular season. 
 
“The young ladies and I have been working hard to continue to grow in our game,” Sinn said before the year. “We’re stressing the idea of consistency and clarity, and hopefully you’ll be able to see that as we play.” 
 
There’s little question the full story between UST, ORU and other teams chasing the Jackrabbits is still being written, but Hill, Scalia and the Tommies scored a big early win Saturday in St. Paul.