The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team earned a 48-41 East Coast Conference victory over LIU Post at Aquinas Hall. Jenna Erickson's 14 points led the way for the Lady Spartans, who improved to 6-1 overall and 1-1 in the ECC, dropping LIU Post to 1-6, 1-1.

Coming off their first loss of the season on Wednesday night, STAC righted the ship with a strong start on defense, holding the Pioneers scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of play, while building a 5-0 lead. A three-pointer by Erickson and three straight free throws by KC Sokolski keyed an 8-0 run later in the session, and the Lady Spartans carried a 13-6 lead into the first quarter break.

LIU Post drew to within 15-13 on a Khea Gibbs foul shot four minutes into the second stanza, but Sokolski would convert a three-point play and Erickson would add another trey as the hosts jumped back to a 23-13 gap, though the Pioneers were able to draw to within 25-19 by halftime.

Post would not draw any closer during the third quarter until Janaysia James' three brought the visitors to 33-29 with 2:00 left, but again STAC would answer with an Adiya Henderson bucket and two more Sokolski foul shots to make the score 37-29 heading into the final session.

Both teams clamped down the defense as neither registered a point over the first 3:30 of the fourth before Alex Bertolino gave STAC a 39-29 advantage with a lay-up. The Pioneers were scoreless for nearly five minutes, but still made the game interesting on a Gibbs trey with 1:08 left to make the tally 45-39, but that was as close as they were to get.

James tied for the game-high, leading Post with 14 points in the low-scoring affair. The Lady Spartans shot just 35% from the field (16-46), but it was enough to offset LIU Post's 24% performance (13-55), while the rebounding battle was a draw at 35-35.

The Lady Spartans play their second of three straight ECC contests at home on Wednesday evening, December 9, when defending conference champs Queens College visit Aquinas Hall for a 6:00 pm start. The game is the opener of a twin-bill, followed by the men's game at approximately 8:00. They will then host Molloy College on Saturday, December 12, with double-header action starting with the women's game at 1:00 pm.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information

- Photo by Dorice Arden