The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team rallied to a 62-53 East Coast Conference victory over Molloy College at Aquinas Hall. Chelsea Murphy's 15 points led the Lady Spartans, who improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the ECC, with Molloy dropping to 2-5, 1-1.
Molloy led for much of the contest, holding a gap as high as seven points in the third quarter, but STAC reeled off a 27-9 outburst over an 11-minute span to secure the win. Murphy scored 13 of her points during that rally, as Jenna Erickson added 11 in support. Ally Leftridge and Kimani Jackson equaled that game-high with 15 each for Molloy.
After STAC jumped to an early 9-3 lead courtesy of Erickson's three-point play, Molloy closed the gap on Aaliyah McDonald's lay-up in the final seconds, leaving the visitors in a 13-12 deficit. Jackson put the finishing touches on an 8-0 second quarter run, giving the Lions a 22-16 edge, though St. Thomas Aquinas held their foes scoreless over the final 2:31 in trimming the halftime gap to 31-28.
Leftridge hit a pair of hoops to open the third, and Molloy enjoyed its biggest margin at 35-28. Murphy's first three pointer, followed 40 seconds later by a lay-up, kickstarted the Lady Spartans' offense and Kate McCue's hoop tied the score at 41-41 with four minutes left. After Molloy reclaimed the lead, Murphy was again on the spot from beyond the arc to tie the score, and Samantha Burden's late basket put the hosts in a 49-47 lead entering the fourth.
That momentum would carry into the final session, and by the time Alyson Brennan nailed a three-pointer with 6:20 to play, the Lady Spartans had completed a 14-0 run to grab a 58-47 advantage. The defense would do the rest as STAC clamped down to allow just six Lions points over the final 10 minutes of play.
STAC decisively won the battle of the boards by a 39-26 count, with Adiyah Henderson clearing eight caroms. They also made their mark from beyond the arc, shooting 50% (5-for-10) on the afternoon.
The Lady Spartans will now play their next six games on the road, starting next Friday, December 18, at the University of New Haven. They will next play on the Aquinas Hall floor on January 14, when UDC visits St. Thomas Aquinas.
- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information