The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team rode a tough defense and Chelsea Murphy's game-high 15 points to a 57-42 non-conference victory at Southern Connecticut State University. The Lady Spartans improve to 8-3 on the season, with SCSU seeing its four-game winning streak snapped in falling to 8-4 overall.
Neither team was able to generate offense early, with Alyson Brennan's hoop standing as the only points through nearly four minutes of play, and Jackie Bethea's layup tying the score at 2-2 past the midway point of the first quarter. The Owls would end the session with an 11-10 lead, though Samantha Burden's six points kept the visitors afloat.
When the Lady Spartans' offense arrived in the second quarter, it did so in a big way. STAC held a 23-22 lead with just under four minutes until halftime but Adiya Henderson netted the final five points of the quarter to pace a 7-0 run, giving her team the first breathing room of the day at 30-22 after a 20-point second quarter.
Southern Connecticut kept the game within striking distance at 37-28, but the final minutes of the third quarter belonged to Murphy, who drilled three-three pointers over the final three minutes, including two in the last minute of play to open a 48-35 chasm.
That would prove to be more than enough as the defense held court from there, allowing just seven points over the final 10 minutes in holding the hosts to their lowest scoring output of the season. Burden and Henderson added 11 points for STAC, with Danielle Powell posting 14 for the Owls. The Lady Spartans forced 26 turnovers in all, while holding SCSU to just 35% (17-of-48) from the field.
STAC now stands at 1-1 in its string of six straigh on the road, which will continue on New Year's Eve in a noon start at Pace University. They will return to Aquinas Hall to host the University of the District of Columbia on Thursday, January 14, starting at 6:00 pm.
The St. Thomas Aquinas College Department of Athletics would like to thank the community for its support throughout the year, and wish you and yours a safe, happy and healthy Holiday Season!
- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information
- Photo by Dorice Arden