The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team cruised to a 66-49 victory over the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference meeting at Aquinas Hall. The Spartans close out the regular season with a 21-6 overall record, 13-3 in ECC play, just one-half game behind Daemen College, which wraps up its season at New York Tech on Sunday afternoon in a 1:00 pm start. STAC can finish no worse than the #2 seed and would jump into a share of the Regular-Season Championship as well as the top seed with an NYIT win over Daemen. UDC, which entered play with post-season hopes still alive, slipped to 8-20 and 4-12, as the Firebirds were edged out for the final tourney berth by Bridgeport after their comeback win over Mercy.

Both offenses started slowly with just a 2-2 tie after two minutes, but a Skye Burris jumper touched off an 18-2 onslaught as the Spartans grabbed a commanding 20-4 after eight minutes of action. During that run, Ruth Adams scored six points to reach the 1,000 plateau for her career, doing so in fitting fashion on a driving, twisting layup. The lead extended to 27-10 on a Missy Sadler jumper early in the second quarter, but Halia Ellis responded with five straight in a 7-0 run as the Firebirds cut the deficit to 27-17.

Tenacious defense by the hosts held UDC without a field goal for over six minutes as an 11-2 run opened a 38-19 advantage and the Spartans removed all doubt by extending the gap to 26 points by the end of the third in cruising to the win. Adams capped off her Senior Day with a game-high 24 points, with Sadler - also a senior - adding 17. Seniors Burris and Kellyann Averill were also among the quartet of players honored in pregame ceremonies of their last contest at Aquinas Hall. Alexus King paced UDC with 13 points.

Though the ECC Tournament picture is coming into shape, all of the first round matchups will be determined after Sunday's contests. STAC and Daemen have clinched first round byes and seeding will depend on the Daemen-New York Tech result. Tech and Molloy are currently tied for third, with Molloy also having a Sunday tilt with Roberts Wesleyan, who has secured the #5 seed and will travel to either Molloy or NYIT for Wednesday night's quarter-final. Bridgeport is in at the #6 slot and will play the higher of the finishers between Tech and Molloy. For full schedule and pairings, check out ECCsports.org.