Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Basketball team picked up its second straight victory on Wednesday evening, battling past Molloy University 63-50 in East Coast Conference action at Aquinas Hall.

STAC improves to 16-10 overall and 10-4 in ECC play, while Molloy falls to 10-14 and 4-9 on the year. 

Erin Leary led the way for the Spartans, recording a team-high 16 points, while teammates Trinity Cheatom (11 points) and Joline Raposo (10 points) also posted double figures in scoring.

STAC shot 41.5 percent (22-53) from the field, while Molloy shot 34.9 percent (22-63) from the floor.

STAC NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:

• Seven Spartans logged double-digit minutes in the contest. 
• Erin Leary led the maroon and gold with seven assists on the evening.
• Leary hit 5 of her 15 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, Trinity Cheatom went 3-of-6 from the floor.
• Molloy out-rebounded STAC by a slim 30-29 margin, with Sarah Ericson grabbing a game-high 13 boards for the Spartans.
• St. Thomas Aquinas picked up eight steals, with the Lions turning the ball over on 22 separate occasions.
• The Spartans earned advantages in three team statistical categories over Molloy: Points off Turnovers (23-20), Second Chance Points (9-4) and Bench Points (20-1).
• The game featured three ties and two lead changes.
• STAC's largest lead of the contest came in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, when Spartans led by 18 points, 63-45 on a Joline Raposo made layup.
• St. Thomas Aquinas held a 29-23 advantage going into the halftime locker room.
• Erin Leary led the Spartans with seven first half points.
• STAC's had it's best shooting quarter in the fourth, going 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from the field and 2-of-4 (50.0 percent) from downtown.
• The Spartans defense held Molloy to just five points and 18.2 percent shooting (2-for-11) from the floor in the second quarter.

MOLLOY NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:

• Six Lions logged double-digit minutes in the contest. 
• Samantha Muller led Molloy with 19 points, while teammates Trinity Hudson (12pts) and Danielle Hippner (10pts) also scored in double figures.
• Janel Moore led the Lions with a seven assists on the night.
• Samantha Muller went 8-for-20 from the floor, while Trinity Hudson hit 5 of her 13 shots from the field.
• Hudson grabbed a team-high 11 boards for the Lions.
• Molloy picked up 11 steals, with the Spartans turning the ball over on 20 separate occasions.
• The Lions earned advantages in two team statistical categories over St. Thomas Aquinas: Points in the Paint (28-22) and Fastbreak Points (10-9).
• Molloy had its largest lead of the game (six points) at the 3:08 mark of the first quarter, 14-8.
• Danielle Hippner led all scorers with 10 points in the opening half for Lions.
• Molloy held an 18-14 advantage through the first 10 minutes of action, but trailed in every subsequent quarter thereafter. 
• The Lions saw a power outage at the three-point line, as they went 0-for-12 from distance for the game.
• Combined, the Molloy men's and women's teams shot 11.1 percent (3-for-27) from downtown on the night.

UP NEXT:

St. Thomas Aquinas College closes the home-portion of its 2023-24 regular season schedule on Saturday, February 24 against Queens College. The Spartans and Knights will tip-off inside of Aquinas Hall beginning at 1:00 p.m., with Senior Day festivities to precede the ECC tilt.