The Aquinas women's basketball team used a big first half to race past visiting Grace Christian on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 21) in the Sturrus Center, as the Saints took down the Tigers by a 65-50 final. AQ jumped out to a 44-19 halftime lead and cruised from there, leading the game for all 40 minutes.
 
Leading 24-10 after the opening 10 minutes, Aquinas outscored the visiting Tigers 20-9 over the next period to build a 25-point halftime lead that would be insurmountable. AQ has won three of its last four games and improves to 8-7 overall, while Grace Christian drops to 6-13 on the season.
 
While the Saints (40.3 percent) were actually outshot from the field by Grace Christian (41.7), AQ owned a 42-31 rebounding advantage, led 9-2 in made three-pointers, and forced 23 Tiger turnovers. Aquinas also was on top in bench points (39-18), points in the paint (36-20), second chance points (13-8), points off turnovers (20-14), and fast break points (10-4).
 
Brighton Miller put forth her best effort in an AQ uniform, netting a game-high and career-high 22 points in just 20 minutes. She nearly tripled her previous single game-high of eight points. Miller made 8-of-11 shots and went 6-of-8 from three-point range, while collecting a pair of steals. She went 6-of-7 from downtown in the first half and made all four triple tries in the opening 10 minutes, finishing one trifecta shy of the school record of seven three-pointers in a game.
 
Daz'Sha Day also reached double-digits with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting in only 15 minutes. Both Marissa Brady and Eliza Brown scored eight points, as Brady added five rebounds and two blocks. Brown made 2-of-3 triples in 12 minutes off the bench.
 
Camaryia Williams took just four shots and scored two points, but she posted a game-high 14 rebounds, her eighth double-digit rebounding effort of the season. The WHAC leading rebounder, Williams also chipped in four assists and a pair of steals. Ally Frederickson posted five rebounds, four points, two steals, and two assists.
 
AQ scored the first four points of the game and used layups from Frederickson, Jordyn Wigg, and Williams to close the quarter with a commanding 24-10 advantage. Miller made four of her three-pointers in a three-minute stretch to help push the Saints to the double-digit edge.
 
A three-pointer from Brown was followed by a layup and a trifecta from Miller to make it a 44-19 halftime score. The Saints still held a 56-33 cushion after the third quarter and Grace Christian would get no closer than the final score of 65-50.
 
Aquinas is done for the 2019 calendar year and will resume action in early-January, when the Saints host Concordia on Jan. 4 at 1:00 p.m.