The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team captured a 76-58 decision in an East Coast Conference contest at the University of the District of Columbia. The Spartans have now won six straight to improve to 16-3 while staying perfect at the mid-season mark of ECC play at 8-0, while UDC slipped to 5-14, 2-6.

Zaria Thomas hit an early three-pointer as STAC jumped to an early 7-2 lead, but a three-point play by Hunter Rowson of UDC with 3:59 left in the quarter kept the score close at 13-9. The Spartans defense clamped down from there, as Thomas chipped in five points during an 8-0 run with the visitors opening a 23-11 gap by the end of the quarter.

With the lead trimmed to 34-25, Lexi Huertas hit a trey to start a 7-0 spurt, resulting in STAC carrying a 41-27 lead into intermission. Ruth Adams converted a three-point play to start the third quarter and Thomas drilled back-to-back threes as a 10-0 burst to extend the lead to a comfortable 51-27 chasm. and that lead was never threatened.

Thomas shot an impressive 10-of-16 from the field in recording a game-high 26 points, Lexi Huertas added 11, Missy Sadler scored 10, and Emily Preston cleared a season-high 12 rebounds to contribute to the win. Latavia Jackson scored 16 and Maya Thomas chipped in 12 for the Firebirds.

The Spartans will now have a week off before starting the second half of the ECC slate, next Saturday, February 1, at Aquinas Hall. Tip time for the women's game is 1:00 pm as the front half of a double-header with the men's teams to follow at approximately 3:00 pm.