Shpresa Liharevic's basket with 19 seconds left lifted the St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team to a 55-53 victory over Molloy College in an East Coast Conference tilt at Aquinas Hall. STAC's win snapped a four-game skid and improved their record to 9-11 overall, 5-5 in ECC play, while Molloy fell to 7-11, 3-7.

Neither team was able to establish control early, with the lead changing hands and no lead larger than four points for either squad. An Alyson Brennan lay-up with just under six minutes left gave STAC a 24-20 lead, but Molloy quickly responded with the next seven points to gain the edge with under two minutes to play.

Another Brennan bucket trimmed the margin to 27-26, but it appeared as though the Lions would take the lead into the locker room before a desperation three-pointer by Liharevic at the buzzer gave the Lady Spartans the momentum at 29-27.

More of the same was in store after the break as the tug-of-war continued until St. Thomas Aquinas opened a seemingly-comfortable 41-34 lead on yet another Brennan basket with 12:08 on the clock. That would be short-lived, however, as a pair of treys from Molloy's Vicki Guerriero and Julia Finley, and a basket from Ikema Ross would key an outburst of eight points in just over a minute to give Molloy the advantage.

Once again the Lady Spartans would open some room with a 50-44 gap, only to see the Lions roar back to tie the game at 53-53 on a Ross three-pointer with 1:16 left. STAC would crash the boards in the waning seconds, rescuing two missed shots with offensive rebounds and setting the stage for Liharevic's running floater that would prove to be the difference.

Brennan led the Lady Spartans attack with a game-high 16 points to go with 12 rebounds, while Liharevic and Sara Oliviera balanced the scoring with 15 each. Ross paced the visitors with a 13 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, with Nicole Arnone adding 12 points.

The Lady Spartans return to action the Saturday, February 2, when they host Queens College in a 1:00 pm tipoff at Aquinas Hall. The ECC tilt is the first meeting of the season between the teams, and preceds the men's game at 3:00 pm.