The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team fell to St. Mary's (Canada) in an exhibition contest at Aquinas Hall. Sabrina Eggink led the Lady Spartans with 20 points.

STAC struggled to get the offense going after Alyson Brennan's lay-up to open the scoring. St. Mary's ran off the next 11 points, keying an 18-2 run to give the visitors a commanding 18-4 advantage after seven minutes of play.

St. Mary's extended the margin to 16 points at 22-6 before the Lady Spartans showed signs of life. Newcomer Kristen Olsen knocked down a three-pointer and Brennan followed with a bucket, sparking a 10-0 outburst that brought the hosts to within six points midway through the half.

That was as close as St. Thomas Aquinas would get in the half, with the teams trading points and St. Mary's entering the halftime locker room with a 36-29 lead.

Once again, the visitors would come out strong after the break, extending their lead back to 16 at 47-31. STAC would go on a 9-3 run to make the deficit 50-40, but the Lady Spartans would be unable to draw thir deficit back to within single digits for the remainder of the evening.

Eggink's 20 points came on the strenght of 8-for-17 shooting from the field to go with her game-high nine rebounds. Kaitlyn McHue added 11 points and Olsen provided a spark off the bench with 10 for St. Thomas Aquinas, with St. Mary's Justine College leading all scorers with 24 points.

The Lady Spartans will begin the regular season portion of their 2013-14 schedule with the official Home Opener on Saturday, November 9 at 1:00 pm against Southern Connecticut State University. That game will precede the men's opener against East Stroudsburg University, starting at 3:00 pm at Spartan Hall.

All STAC home basketball games will be available on LiveStats, as well as video broadcasts, with the links to be accessible through the team schedules.