The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team fell to a 68-48 defeat against Queens College in an East Coast Conference contest at Aquinas Hall. Sam Burden led the Lady Spartans with 14 points but her team dipped to 9-13 overall and 5-8 in the ECC, with Queens improving to 16-4, 11-2 and moving a half game ahead of the University of the District of Columbia and into sole possession of first place.

Burden got the Lady Spartans off to a good start, scoring the game's first four points but McKenzie Rowland would answer, scoring Queens' first eight points and grabbing her team's first eight rebounds as the visitors grabbed a 10-7 lead.

After a Jenna Erickson layup trimmed the margin to one, Queens took off on an 11-0 sprint to open some breathing reeom at 21-9. STAC would chip that down to a 30-26 deficit in the final minute of the first half, but the Knights struck late to carry a 36-27 lead after 20 minutes.

STAC would again battle back, with a pair of Burden free throws making the score 42-38 with 14:37 left, but this time it was Madison Rowland taking charge, spurring her team on a convincing 17-0 outburst which would put the contest out of reach.

Madison Rowland was the standout performer with a game-high 29 points, while sister McKenzie did her share with 15 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. STAC shot just 31% from the floor (16-52) compared to an even 50% (30-60) for Queens.

The Lady Spartans return to action on Saturday, February 7, when Molloy College visits Aquinas Hall for a big ECC showdown. Double-header action starts at 1:00 pm with the women's game, followed by the men's contest at 3:30 pm.