The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team cut a 27-point deficit down to just seven points before falling to LIU-Post, 85-73, in an East Coast Conference match-up at Aquinas Hall. Briana Cook and Sabrina Eggink led the Lady Spartans with 18 points each but it did not prevent their squad from falling to 7-6 overall and 3-5 in the ECC, with Post improving to 10-4, 7-1.

Continuing their recent pattern, the Lady Spartans stumbled from the outset and Post was able to take full advantage, jumping out to an 18-3 cushion after nine minutes of play. STAC began to find the range but still found itself in a 41-24 hole after 20 minutes.

Post picked up where it left off in the second half with a 16-6 outburst to open up a 57-30 lead with 14:29 to go. With STAC still in a deep 66-42 deficit with 11 minutes to play, the hosts finally received their wake-up call. Five different players contributed in a frantic 20-3 run, as the Lady Spartans slashed the margin to 69-62 with still over four minutes to play.

From there, the Pioneers would right the ship, however, extending the lead back to double-digits and never being threatened from that point. Samantha Lane joined Cook and Eggink in double-figures with 10 points. Chelsea Williams and Shayna Gatling posted 19 each and Alexis Peters added 17 for Post.

The Lady Spartans will now be off until Friday, January 24, when they will start their Buffalo weekend on the road against Daemen College in a 5:00 pm start, before traveling to Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday, January 25, for a 2:00 pm tip-off. They return to Aquinas Hall to host Mercy College on Tuesday, January 28 starting at 5:30 pm, before the men's contest at 7:30.