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In 2012 St. Thomas went to the Final Four in Holland, Mich., with a slew of freshmen contributing as reserves. Now those players are seniors pushing for one more Final Four appearance in Michigan.
Along the way, those seniors have had more than their share of injuries. In the Tommies' first game of the 2012-2013 season, they lost Maggie Weiers, the tough rebounding center who was a starter on the Final Four team, to a season ending injury. The next season St. Thomas got Weiers back, but lost primary scorer Jenna Dockter and versatile forward Anna Smith for most of their junior campaigns.
Unfortunately the injury trend returned in the sectional semifinals on Friday night, when two seniors suffered knee injuries in the span of a couple minutes. Hannah Hughes and Weiers did not return to the game after their injury and are unlikely to play on Saturday night.
As they have done throughout the four years, the Tommies overcame the injuries and defeated the Flying Dutch 55-47 to advance. Now they face their toughtest test of the season, playing at undefeated and top-ranked Thomas More with a Final Four bid on the line.
We spoke with Tommies' head coach Ruth Sinn and Smith about their season, the last four years and how injuries have made this St. Thomas team tougher.