St. Thomas Basketball Player Shoots 83 Percent, Leads Conference In Scoring

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The St. Thomas women's basketball team is undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country, largely because they have the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's best player.

But as David McCoy tells us, it's one thing to lead the conference in scoring, and it's another thing to do it the way Hannah Spaulding is doing it.

Not only does she lead the conference in scoring with more than 18 points a game, but she's also shooting 83 percent. Yes. 83 percent.

"I shoot a lot of layups," Spaulding says.

In a given season, there's typically only a handful of shooters who are better than 50 percent – and they're only in the 60s.

So 83, that's just completely absurd. Best in the country, of either gender, at any level.

But this is not just an early-season hot streak or aberration.

Spaulding finished the season last year shooting 70 percent, which led the entire country. She also led the conference in scoring last year and was named MIAC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American.

"I just practice it a lot, I guess," Spaulding said. "And we really work on, especially in the post, not having to manufacture moves a lot. So getting yourself in a position so when you catch the ball, all you have to do is turn and shoot it."

Spaulding is on pace to break a 25-year-old conference record for career shooting percentage and finish in the top 10 all-time among all women's players at any NCAA level, but she's still most concerned with the team.

"Especially as a senior, you just want to do whatever the team needs," Spaulding said. "So I think this year we have a really good chance of going far in the tournament and possibly winning it."