Briana Sloper recorded a season-high 28 points, including a clutch three-pointer down the stretch, to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team to a 57-55 victory over Bridgeport at Aquinas Hall. The Lady Spartans have now won two straight to improve to 9-9 overall and 4-4 in the East Coast Conference, while the visiting Purple Knights dropped their third in a row to fall to 5-13, 3-5.
STAC was looking to build momentum off Saturday's victory at Mercy, which snapped a six-game slide. Points were still hard to come by early, however, as Marie Biondi's trey capped a 12-2 run to stake Bridgeport to an 14-6 lead just over eight minutes into play. They would equal that margin twice in the first half before a Sloper layup with just over a minute remaining would spark a 7-2 burst to trim the deficit to 28-25 at the break. It was Sloper's 17 points over the first 20 minutes almost singlehandedly kept her team in the running.
UB would reestablish their edge after the break, with Tanisha Carter's jumper at the 13:46 mark giving her squad the biggest advantage that either team would enjoy at 39-29. The Lady Spartans still trailed until a pair of Briana Cook buckets topped off a 10-1 spurt that would provide the hosts with a 49-47 lead, their first since the contest's opening minutes with just 4:09 remaining.
Elinor Avny buried a deep three-pointer just over a minute later to help Bridgeport reclaim the advantage with 2:56 left, but Sloper's answer from the top of the key just 16 seconds later gave St. Thomas Aquinas a lead they would not relinquish. Edna Marant brought Bridgeport to within 56-55 with a hoop with 39 seconds left and Sloper would provide the final tally by hitting the second of two free throws with just seven seconds remaining. STAC's pressure off the ensuing inbound was just enough to prevent the Purple Knights from attempting a last attempt as time expired. Marant paced Bridgeport with a team-high 19 points while Avny added 11. Ashley Motrechuk came off the Lady Spartan bench to lead all rebounders with nine, to go with her seven points.
STAC shot 40% from the field on 21-52 accuracy, while Bridgeport cooled after a strong start from the perimeter, posting 36 percent on 20-56 shooting despite a strong 6-13 effort (46%) from behind the arc. The Lady Spartans were tough on the glass, winning the rebounding battle by a narrow 36-34 margin. Despite suffering 22 turnovers, St. Thomas Aquinas did not record one in the game's final ten minutes.
The Lady Spartans will enter the home stretch by playing five of their next seven on the road, starting this Saturday, January 28, when they travel to our nation's capital to face the University of the District of Columbia in a 1:00 pm start. They will then square off at Queens College in a 5:00 pm tipoff on Wednesday, February 1 before returning to Aquinas Hall to take on Molloy in a 1:00 pm matinee on Saturday, February 4. All of these contests are part of double-headers preceeding games featuring the men's squads.