The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Basketball team opens the 2024 post-season with an East Coast Conference First Round battle against #6 seeded D'Youville University at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Aquinas Hall Gymnasium.
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For More Information, visit ECC Women's Basketball Championship Central
The Teams - St. Thomas Aquinas College - The #3 seeded Spartans look to advance to their third straight ECC semifinal game under Head Coach Bill Cleary. STAC comes in with a 17-11 overall record, 11-5 in ECC play. The Spartans will lean on the veteran leadership of Sarah Ericson (16.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.7 apg), Erin Leary (14.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.5 apg) and Trinity Cheatom (9.4 ppg, 2.7 apg) to advance to out of the first round. Karolina Jaruseviciute (5.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Bailey Chapman, Emily Strunk, Angelique Holguin, Joline Raposo, Delaney Finnegan and Liliana Kramer will also see time on the floor, adding supplemental scoring and strong defensive play while eating up key minutes in the postseason contest.
The Teams - D'Youville University - The Saints captured the #6 seed and enter Wednesday's play at 9-17 overall and with a 7-7 ECC record. Under second year Head Coach Ali Bouman, Anna Jankovic (13.5 ppg), Brianne Moxley (8.7 ppg), Jaelyn Vleer-Elliott (8.4 ppg) and Stella Mollica (8.3 ppg) have been the offensive threats for D'Youville The aformentioned Jankovic (6.1 rpg) and Vleer-Elliott (5.5 rpg) will look to clean-up on the boards.
Season Series (STAC wins, 2-0):
Jan 21, 2024, @STAC 67, D'Youville 46 - St. Thomas Aquinas built an early 18-9 first quarter lead and led by 12 (38-26) at halftime to take the first meeting of the year by 21 points. Sarah Ericson led all scorers with a game-high 24 points, while Erin Leary (16 points) also scored in double figures. Anna Jankovic paced the Saints with 13 points on the road.
Feb 18, 2024 - STAC 64, @D'Youville 49 - In the rematch in Buffalo, a close first quarter (12-10 STAC) broke open into an 11-point halftime advantage (33-22) for the Spartans. STAC won every quarter en route to a 15-point victory. Erin Leary led all scorers with a game-high 19 points, including her 1,000th career point which she scored early in the second stanza of the contest. Leary also grabbed 11 boards, while teammate Sarah Ericson recorded 18 points and 11 rebounds. Anna Jankovic again paced the Saints with another 13-point effort.
What's Next? - The winner of this game will advance to the ECC Tournament Semifinal to take on #2 seed Mercy University on Saturday, March 9, at 2:30 p.m. The semifinal and final rounds of the women's tourney shift to #1 seed Daemen Univerisrty (Lumsden Gym) in Amherst, N.Y.
The winner of the ECC Tournament Championship receives an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament.
2024 EAST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
First Round – Wednesday, March 6 at campus sites
6:30 p.m. - No. 6 D'Youville at No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas
7:00 p.m. - No. 5 Staten Island at No. 4 District of Columbia
Semifinals – Saturday, March 9 at Daemen
12:00 p.m. - CSI/UDC vs. No. 1 Daemen
2:30 p.m. - DYU/STAC vs. No. 2 Mercy
Final – Sunday, March 10 at Daemen
12:00 p.m. - Semifinal winner vs. Semifinal winner
BROADCAST/LIVE STATISTICS INFORMATION
For those who cannot be in attendance, Wednesday's Game will be broadcast LIVE on both the Spartan Sports Network and the ECC Network. The team of Marc Ernay, Jacob Kronberg and Tom Scavetta will bring you all of the action from Aquinas Hall.
Live statistics will also be available for fans to follow all of the game action, if you cannot make it to Aquinas Hall or watch the web stream.
TICKET PRICING
All Games
$8 - General Admission
$4 - Students with ID, Senior Citizens, Children Ages 5-12
Children under 5 free for all games
* Must purchase a ticket to attend first round game on March 6 *
* Tickets must be purchased at the link above. Due to the seating capacity of the tournament venues, it is recommended that tickets be purchased in advance. The ECC will not guarantee that tickets will be available at the door. *