The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team defeated Roberts Wesleyan College, 69-58 in the opener of the East Coast Conference Tournament at Roberts Wesleyan. STAC will face #2 Queens College at 2:30 pm Saturday at LIU Post. The #6 seeded Lady Spartans improve to 14-16, while RWC closes the campaign at 20-7.
Four STAC players registered double-figures, with Kristen Olsen and Sam Burden adding 15 each, Alyson Brennan recording 11, and Kate McCue chipping in 10. Marissa Sell paced the host Redhawks with 15 points.
Neither team was able to gain a lead in excess of three points until McCue's basket with 7:48 to play in the first half capped a 10-2 run, putting STAC in a 19-14 lead. Jenna Johnson's hoop with 3:07 to play put RWC back on top, 26-25, but a Burden trey in the final minute led the Lady Spartans to a 32-30 halftime edge.
Samantha Courtney's layup helped the Redhawks score six of the first seven points after the break, to take a 36-33 advantage. Olsen heated up with a pair of treys and Brennan added a hoop to put STAC back ahead, 43-38, but Roberts would rally to tie the game again with 11:00 to play.
Brennan came up big with the Lady Spartans' next six points, and a pair of McCue free throws with 5:17 left opened the biggest lead of the night at 55-48. Ashley Smith's bank-shot three-pointer gave the hosts life at 62-58 with 49 seconds to go, but STAC remained hungry for the win, coming up with two offensive rebounds and a steal to go with seven free throws in those final seconds.
Jenna Erickson, named earlier in the day as the ECC's Rookie of the Year, had a solid effort with seven points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. STAC turned the ball over just 12 times in the contest, and shot an impressive 80% (16-20) from the foul line.
The other ECC Women's Tournament semi-final will see the #1 University of the District of Columbia squaring off with #5 NYIT, which emerged with a 76-71 victory at LIU Post on Wednesday night. The winners of Saturday's semis will play in Sunday's ECC Championship contest at LIU Post, with the tourney champ earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
In ECC Men's Tournament play, the #1 STAC men's team was idle, awaiting its opponent for Saturday's semi-final. The Spartans will have the unenviable task of facing a lower seed in its home gym, as #4 LIU Post ousted #5 Molloy, 68-60. That contest will tip at 5:00 pm followed at 7:30 by #2 Bridgeport meeting #6 Dowling, which recorded an 82-74 upset at #3 NYIT.
St. Thomas Aquinas College is now the only institution in the ECC with both teams advancing to the basketball semi-finals.
ECC Women's Basketball semi-finals (at LIU Post)
Saturday, March 7
12:00 - #1 District of Columbia vs #5 NYIT
2:30 - #2 Queens vs #6 St. Thomas Aquinas
ECC Men's Basketball semi-finals (at LIU Post)
Saturday, March 7
5:00 - #1 St. Thomas Aquinas vs #4 LIU Post
7:30 - #2 Bridgeport vs #6
Dowling