The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team pulled away early for a 90-57 East Coast Conference victory over Mercy College at Aquinas Hall. That extends the Spartans' current win streak to seven games - the second time they have enjoyed such a streak this season - to improve to 17-3 overall while remaining atop the ECC standings with a 9-0 mark. With the loss, Mercy slides to 7-13 overall and 1-8 in ECC play.

With both teams coming off a one-week layoff, the tempo was high early as the Mavericks stormed to a 5-0 lead after just 42 seconds on a jumper from Abagail Collier and a three from Katie Wall. That momentum ended quickly as Sarah Scerbak and Zaria Thomas hit back-to-back threes to put STAC on top, jump-starting an 18-1 run and the hosts never looked back. Thomas hit three treys and recorded 11 points during that run and the hosts opened a 30-17 lead after 10 minutes.

Ruth Adams also converted from deep as an 8-2 run started the second quarter to open a 38-19 chasm and the lead was never fewer than 17 points the rest of the way. Coming off a 26-point effort in last Saturday's win at UDC, Thomas was torrid on the afternoon, hitting 6-of-7 from beyond the arc in rolling up a game-high 22 points. Adams recorded all of her 15 points in a dominant first half, Lexi Huertas added 12 and Emily Preston posted 10 in the balanced effort. Collier scored 15 to lead Mercy.

The Spartans will play their next four games on the road before returning to Aquinas Hall, starting with a big showdown at Molloy College on Wednesday, February 5. They then embark on their Upstate New York weekend, facing Daemen (February 14) and Roberts Wesleyan (February 16), before wrapping up at Queens on February 19. They return to Aquinas Hall to square off with NYIT on Saturday, February 22.