The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team dropped a tough 93-90 loss in double overtime to NYIT in an East Coast Conference contest at Aquinas Hall. Jenna Erickson led STAC with 25 points as her team fell to 6-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play. NYIT improved to 9-2, 4-0 with the hard-fought win.

NYIT got off to a strong start with an early 13-8 lead, but the Lady Spartans caught fire, with a 17-2 run opening a 25-15 advantage. Erickson's three pointer in the final minute gave STAC a 33-26 halftime advantage.

While the Bears battled back to tie the score at 47-47, a Kate McCue hoop opened a 67-57 lead with five minutes left in regulation. Again, NYIT would battle back to tie the game on three more occasions but were unable to gain the lead, though a pair of Dina Ragab free throws with 39 seconds left was enough to send the game to overtime.

STAC appeared on the verge of victory when Sabrina Eggink's layup gave the hosts an 81-77 edge with under a minute to play in OT, but Ragab hit a jumper and, after a Lady Spartan turnover, Shanice Allen sent the game to a second extra session with 11 seconds to play.

Tech scored the first five points of the second extra session but this time the Lady Spartans would respond, with an Erickson trey knotting the game for the 11th time at 90-90 with 1:40 left. Audrey Knowlton would hit a runner to put NYIT back ahead and Ragab's foul shot made the score 93-90, but Samantha Lane's desperation shot to tie the game at the buzzer was off the mark.

Alyson Brennan added 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and McCue recorded 15 for the Lady Spartans. Allen led all scorers with 28 points, while Ragab came up big with 23.

The Lady Spartans hit the road for their next contest, an ECC affair at LIU-Post on Saturday, January 10. They then return to Aquinas Hall to host Daemen College on Friday, January 16 with double-header action (preceding the men's game) starting at 6:00 pm.