A strong second quarter and key plays down the stretch helped the Aquinas women's basketball team upend visiting Indiana-Northwest on Saturday (Nov. 9) in the Sturrus Center. The Saints recorded a 55-48 victory over the #25 Redhawks and held off a late IU-Northwest run by outscoring the visitors by scoring 10 of the game's last 14 points.
Aquinas improves to 2-3 on the season, while IU-Northwest drops to 2-3 overall. The Saints were listed in the Receiving Votes category of the most recent top-25 poll, while the Redhawks are the #25 team in the country.
Despite being outshot in the game – IU-Northwest shot 41.7 percent from the field, while AQ connected on 35.3 percent of its attempts – the Saints held an 8-2 advantage in made three-pointers. Aquinas also shot 11-of-15 from the free throw line – including a 6-for-8 mark in the fourth quarter – while the Redhawks were just 6-of-8 overall at the charity stripe.
AQ won the rebounding battle 35-30, in part due to
Camaryia Williams' game-high 13 rebounds. The 5'5" senior grabbed 10 defensive boards, while adding eight points, three assists, and two steals. Her backcourt mate
Keeley Hinton made 5-of-10 three-pointers for a game-high 15 points in 22 minutes.
Daz'Sha Day added 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals, while
Jaylynn Williams contributed eight points and made a pair of trifectas.
Jayda Smith passed for six assists and hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 20 seconds to help seal the victory.
AQ trailed 15-10 late in the first quarter when
Ally Frederickson scored on a layup and Hinton hit her second trifecta of the period to tie the game at 15-all at the end of the quarter. Hinton buried another three-pointer early in the second quarter to help spark the Saints to a 19-11 scoring advantage during the frame.
A three-pointer from
Diynasti Dowell and two free throws from
Jaylynn Williams helped AQ take the 34-26 edge to halftime. The lead grew to a 14-point cushion (40-26) when Hinton hit a triple with 7:33 to play in the third quarter, but the Redhawks chipped away to make it a 43-38 game heading into the fourth frame.
It was a one-point game with 5:48 to play after a Redhawks bucket made it 45-44. Day scored a minute later and hit two free throws at the 3:40 mark to push Aquinas out to a 50-44 advantage. She again scored on a fast break layup with 1:09 remaining for a 52-46 lead and Smith buried 3-of-4 freebies to clinch the win.
After already playing three teams listed in the first top-25 poll, AQ has a one-week break before beginning WHAC play. The Saints host Madonna next Saturday (Nov. 16) at 1:00 p.m. in the Sturrus Center.
