The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team overcame an 8-point fourth-quarter deficit to rally to a 61-58 victory at New York Tech in an East Coast Conference battle. The Spartans, ranked #4 in this week's D2SIDA East Region poll, won their third straight to improve to 13-3 overall, and remain the lone undefeated team in conference play with a 5-0 mark. NYIT, the defending ECC Tournament champs, slipped to 9-8, 2-3 with the loss.
An early exchange of baskets found the score tied before the Spartans utilized a 10-0 run on the strength of four straight points each by Ruth Adams and Kellyann Averill to open a 16-6 advantage. STAC was held scoreless for a span of over four minutes but their tenacious defense allowed just a pair of free throws over that stretch and the half ended in an unlikely fashion, as Averill's first trey of the season as the clock expired increased the margin to 33-21 after 20 minutes.
Intermission was just what the doctor ordered for the Bears after a trey from Adams gave STAC a 37-23 gap. NYIT's offense woke up to the tune of a 20-4 outburst over the next eight minutes, though another late three from Adams staked the visitors to a tenuous 47-43 lead after three. Tech was not about to let up, tying the score at 49-49 on a Zoe Amalbert three just over a minute into the fourth and her ensuing bucket gave the hosts their first lead since the opening minutes. That cushion built to 58-50 on a Ketsia Athias jump hook with just under four to play, but the Spartans were far from finished.
Sarah Scerbak jump-started the offense with a driving layup with 3:30 left and Adams added one-of-two from the stripe to cut the margin to five with 2:33 to play. STAC's defense got the stops it needed and a Missy Sadler hoop drew her team within 58-57 with 1:10 to go. With the shot clock winding down, Corinn Baggs missed a three-pointer and the Spartans took advantage as Scerbak found an open Emily Preston, whose trey with 24 seconds left gave the Spartans the advantage at 60-58.
Adams came up big on the defensive end with a steal and hit one from the strip to open a three point gap, and a potential game-tying three from Amalbert was off the mark as STAC poured off the bench in celebration. Adams led all scorers with 19 points while Scerbak chipped in 10. Amalbert was one of two Bears in double-figures, leading her squad with 16 points.
The Spartans play their next two games in the friendly setting of Aquinas Hall, starting this Saturday, January 18, for a 1:00 tip against Queens College before taking on Bridgeport in a 5:00 pm start on Wednesday, January 22. Both of those games are the front end of double-headers, with men's action to follow.