The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team came up just short in a 69-66 loss in an East Coast Conference tilt against nationally ranked University of the District of Columbia. The Lady Spartans are the #6 seed in the upcoming ECC Tournament, which starts Wednesday. STAC falls to 13-16 overall, 9-11 in the ECC with UDC winning its 14th straight to improve to 25-3, 18-2.

Pre-game Senior Day ceremonies honored Ashley Motrechuk and Sabrina Eggink, playing their final career games at Aquinas Hall.

STAC was not impressed by it's formidable opponents in the early going, leading the defending ECC Champs by a 6-0 score after over six minutes of play. The Firebirds stormed back to take an 18-13 lead midway through the session, but Kristen Olsen's torrid three-point shooting gave the Lady Spartans a 34-30 halftime edge.

UDC answered with the first eight points after the break to snag a 38-34 advantage, but Olsen added eight straight points to cap a 10-0 run and put the hosts back on top. A pair of Jenna Erickson free throws with 6:48 to go had STAC poised for the upset with a 57-48 lead, but the #22 ranked team in the nation would rally.

Dennika Brent's layup with 3:02 left put her team ahead to stay at 63-62, though the Lady Spartans did have one last chance to tie the score, but Eggink's desperate three point attempt at the buzzer was off target.

Olsen nailed six three pointers in registering a game-high 23 points for STAC, with Erickson adding 17. Iman Scott came up big for the Firebirds, coming off the bench to record 19 points.

St. Thomas Aquinas will hit the road for the first round of the ECC Tournament on Wednesday, traveling to face either Roberts Wesleyan College or Queens College, pending the outcome of today's games. Top seed UDC earns a bye into the semi-finals, which will be played at LIU Post on Saturday, March 7, with the finals to be held in the same venue the following day.