Four St. Thomas Aquinas players - Brianna Sloper, Jenna Erickson, Chaz Watler, and Justin Reyes, have been named to their respective All-Decade teams by the website D2 East Hoops. The selections were taken from across all three conferences in the East Region (East Coast Conference, Northeast-10, and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference).
Teams were selected from the period covering the 2009-10 season through 2018-19 seasons and criteria included players who, "...have displayed uncommon excellence individually, and were equally instrumental to their teams’ success, whether on the offensive or defensive end. Or both." Two STAC players were named for each team, including:
Brianna Sloper helped usher in the Kim Lusk era as Spartans coach, playing from 2008-12. By her senior season, she was considered one of the most dominant interior players in the East Coast Conference, amassing 1,885 points to put her among STAC's all-time leaders. STAC appeared in the conference tournament in each of Brianna's four seasons, including a trip to the finals in 2011-12, in which the Spartans fell short only to a Dowling team that went on to play in the Division II National Tournament championship game. She was conference Rookie of the Year in 2008-09 and was a First Team All-Conference selection her final three years, which included Player of the Year accolades in the 2011-12 campaign.
Just two years after Sloper's dominance ended, Jenna Erickson helped usher in a new era in St. Thomas Aquinas women's basketball. A four-year starter, Jenna recorded 1,826 points in her career spanning 2014-18. Her performance was about far more than scoring, however, as she started 30 of her team's 31 games at the point guard slot in her freshman year, and her poise, three-point shooting ability, and floor leadership made her one of the most respected players in the conference, as evidenced by her 2017-18 Player of the Year honors. Erickson played in all 122 STAC games during her four seasons, amazingly starting 120 of them, as the team registered a 78-44 record, with an ECC Tournament Championship and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win in the 2018 post-season.
On the men's side, Chaz Watler is considered the cornerstone of what has become one of the most dominant programs in the East region. Enrolling at STAC for the second year of Tobin Anderson's tenure (2014-15), Chaz made an immediate impact and only proceeded to improve during each of his four seasons. He totaled 1,841 points in leading the Spartans to the ECC Championship Game in all four years, in addition to the program's first two trips to the NCAA Tournament and a Regional Championship in 2016-17. Perhaps his biggest attributes - aside from his obvious talent - were his leadership and ability to come through in the clutch. Never was this more evident than in the opening round of the 2015-16 East Regional, in which he went coast-to-coast in the waning seconds of regulation to score the game-winning buzzer-beater against Southern Connecticut to give St. Thomas Aquinas its first tournament win in its first-ever game, with that play serving as one of the most memorable in STAC athletics history.
Last but far from least, Justin Reyes was nothing short of a dominant force during his four seasons, bringing the men's hoops program to an even higher level. Playing from 2014-18, he is currently the ECC's All-Time Points Leader with an amazing 2,247 to go with 1,144 rebounds. Despite his relatively small stature for a pivot player, Justin racked up his career numbers generally in the face of double- and triple-teams by frustrated opponents who were still unable to slow him down. The team records clearly tell the story of his impact; a total record of 102-29 over four years, four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament (including the regional title in '16-17), and three ECC Tournament Championships, resulting in being named ECC Player of the Year for his final three seasons, cementing his status as one of the best performers in the 30-year history of the ECC.
Brianna Sloper (Honorable Mention)