Bianca Kowgios hit a driving lay-up with 29 seconds left to give the St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team the lead and resulted in a 61-59 East Coast Conference victory over Queens College at Aquinas Hall. Alyson Brennan posted 22 points for the Lady Spartans who took their second two-point decision in four days to improve to 10-11 overall, 6-5 in conference. Queens dropped to 7-11 overall and 4-7 in ECC play.
After hitting the game-winning basket in a 55-53 victory over Molloy on Wednesday night, Shpresa Liharevic opened the scoring with a three-pointer as the Lady Spartans established control early. They jumped to an early 19-6 edge and equaled that lead at 29-16 on a pair of Brennan free-throws with 6:13 remaining in the first half.
Queens would take charge, reeling off the next 13 points over a five-minute span to tie the score at 29-29 on a Lisanne Comeau basket, but it was Brennan's answer with 14 seconds left that sent the hosts to the locker room with a 33-31 advantage.
A Marie Burns lay-up would draw Queens even for the sixth time on the afternoon at 43-43, but Brennan would score four of her team's points in a 6-0 run to put the Lady Spartans back up, 49-43 with nine minutes left. The hosts would maintain that edge but the Knights would stay within striking distance, trailing 58-53 as the game approached the three minute mark.
Kristen Korzevinski hit a pair of jumpers and Burns added another, giving Queens its first lead of the day at 59-58 with just 41 ticks left on the clock. After a timeout, Kowgios came off a high screen and converted a driving lay-up that would prove to be the game-winner with just 29 seconds left to put STAC back on top by one. A missed shot by Comeau and a foul would lead to a Liharevic free throw with 1.8 seconds left that would provide the final score.
In addition to Kowgios and Brennan's heroics, Liharevic had 12 points to contribute to the STAC attack. Byrnes led four Knights in double-figures with 17 points to go with a game-high 13 rebounds. Comeau added 16 while Korzevinski and Bria Jackson added 10 each for Queens, who outrebounded St. Thomas Aquinas by a 42-30 margin.
St. Thomas Aquinas will take the trip to Rochester, NY to tackle Roberts Wesleyan College in an East Coast Conference basketball twin-bill this Wednesday, February 6. Action starts with the women's contest at 6:00 pm, followed by the men's game, before STAC hosts Mercy in another conference showdown at Aquinas Hall on Saturday, February 9, starting at 1:00 pm.