The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team dropped a 69-54 East Coast Conference decision at Dowling College. Colleen Ames led the Lady Spartans with 11 points as her squad fell to 9-10 overall, 5-9 in conference while Dowling improved to 9-10, 8-6.

STAC jumped on top early, with a pair of Sam Burden baskets and one from Alyson Brennan and Briana Cook putting the Lady Spartans in an 8-5 lead. Dowling would reel off the next eight points as part of an 18-5 run to open up a lead at 23-13, and they would not look back.

Dowling would increase their margin to 12 points, but the Lady Spartans closed strong in the first half to cut the margin to 35-30. That was as close as they would come, however, as Golden Lions senior Rekik Worku took charge in the early moments, helping her team pull away. Dowling opened the second half on a 10-2 burst and their lead was never within 10 points thereafter as they took home the win.

Burden added 10 points to the STAC offense, while Dowling was led by 18 from Julia Koppl, along with 16 from Kamille Ejerta, and 14 from Worku, all in the second half.

The Lady Spartans' next two games will be on the road, traveling to face Queens College on Wednesday, February 12 and heading out to Molloy College on Saturday, February 15. They return to Aquinas Hall on Wednesday, February 19, hosting NYIT in a 5:30 pm start.