Senior Shpresa Liharevic recorded career-highs with 28 points and 12 rebounds to lead the St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team to an 82-60 East Coast Conference victory at Molloy College. The Lady Spartans have now won two straight and improve to 4-5 overall, 1-1 in ECC play while Molloy drops to 2-4, 0-2.

In an evenly-played first half, an Ikema Ross lay-up with 10:45 left gave the Lady Lions their biggest lead at 19-13 before the visitors took charge. Over the next 8 1/2 minutes, STAC bolted to a 21-5 run, capped off by Liharevic recording the last nine points on a pair of threes and an "and-one."

After maintaining a 35-30 margin at the break, Molloy scored the first four points to trim their deficit to one, before STAC scored 13 of the next 14 points to open a lead they would not relinquish, eventually extending their breathing room to as many as 25 points.

While Liharevic was the only Lady Spartan in double-figures in scoring, they received important contributions with nine points each from Alyson Brennan, Bianca Kowgios, KC Sokolski and Sabrina Eggink, and eight points from Sara Oliviera.

STAC shot 43% from the field (26-61) while the defense held firm, keeping Molloy to just 29% (19-65) shooting. The Lady Spartans also held the rebounding edge, 48-43.

Liharevic's performance was her second big effort of the week. Including her team's home win against Lincoln University on Wednesday, over the past two games the senior has 14-of-25 from the field (56%), an amazing 7-of-9 (78%) from behind the arc, and 11-of-12 (92%) from the foul line, averaging 23.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.

The Lady Spartans will now enjoy a week off before returning to the Aquinas Hall hardwood on Saturday, December 15, in a 1:00 non-conference start against Pace University. The game is the front end of a twin-bill which will see the men's team take on Dominican College at 3:00 pm.