The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team jumped out to a big lead and cruised to a 73-58 East Coast Conference victory over Roberts Wesleyan College at Aquinas Hall. The game was the ECC opener for the Spartans, who improved to 8-1 on the season while Roberts Wesleyan dropped to 4-5, 0-2.

Sara Nady opened the scoring for the Redhawks with a three pointer a minute into play, but the Spartans dominated from there. Zaria Thomas and Lexi Huertas answered with back-to-back treys to touch off a 20-2 run, with STAC pulling away for a 24-8 cushion through 10 minutes. But the time the Spartans' 18-3 burst to start the second quarter was complete, the hosts took a commanding 40-11 lead en route to a 45-16 chasm at intermission.

STAC's lead ballooned to 69-32 by the opening minutes of the fourth quarter before the Redhawks' offense awoke, hitting seven three pointers in the game's final seven minutes to make the score respectable, while still falling well short.

Thomas had the hot hand for St. Thomas Aquinas, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor and 4-for-7 from beyond the arc in netting a game-high 18 points. Ruth Adams chipped in 13 points and a game-high nine boards as STAC dominated the glass to the tune of a 42-29 gap. Taryn Wilson led three RWC players in double-figures with 16 points.

The Spartans return to ECC action for a big conference showdown against Daemen College on Sunday, December 15, at 1:00 pm at Aquinas Hall. They then travel to Southern Connecticut State University for a non-conference battle on Wednesday, December 18, before returning to conference action at Mercy College on Saturday, December 21.