The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team saw the curtain fall on its season with a 67-56 loss at LIU-Post in the first round of the East Coast Conference tournament. The #5 seeded Lady Spartans finish the 2012-13 campaign with a 13-16 record while Post improves to 19-8 and advances to face #1 seed Dowling College in the tournament semi-finals on Friday.

STAC entered the tournament having dropped four straight and the offensive woes continued in the early minutes, with Post's Samantha Kopp scoring seven points in her team's 11-2 burst over the first five minutes of play. The Pioneers continues to apply the pressure, extending their margin to 23-8 with eight minutes left in the first half. The Lady Spartans began to find the range but were unable to close the deficit, entering the locker room trailing by a 36-21 margin.

In the second half, both teams traded baskets early on with the Pioneers able to maintain their cushion at 45-30 after seven minutes of play. A Nicolette Marciniak lay-up staked the hosts to a 54-34 lead midway through the session, but STAC would show signs of life. Alyson Brennan hit a pair of baskets wrapped around a Sabrina Eggink three-pointer to draw the Lady Spartans to within 54-41 with over seven minutes left.

That was as close as the visitors would get, however, as a pair of Jalicia Connell treys put the momentum back on Post's side and they would not be threatened again. Eggink led three Lady Spartans in double-figures with 14 points, Briana Cook added 13, and Shpresa Liharevic had 12, to go with Bianca Kowgios' seven assists.

Kopp led all scorers with 17 points, Marciniak added 13 and a game-high 13 rebounds, and Alexis Peters chipped in with 10 for Post.