The Aquinas women's basketball team traveled to University Park, Illinois to take on Governors State in the 2021-22 season opener on Saturday night (Oct. 23). The Saints edged the Jaguars by a score of 59-53 with AQ outscoring GSU by one point in the second quarter and five points in the third quarter to secure the six point win at the Athletics & Recreation Center.

This was the season opener for both teams as Aquinas starts 1-0 and Governors State, an NAIA school out of the CCAC conference, begins its season 0-1.

The Jaguars opened the game on a 6-1 run in the first quarter, but the Saints gathered themselves and ended the first 10 minutes tied with GSU at 14. The two teams battled in a back-and-forth second quarter that saw Aquinas finishing the half leading 25-24. 

The third quarter is where the Saints separated themselves by outscoring the Jaguars by five points and ending the quarter on an 11-6 run in the last three minutes. The Aquinas lead grew to as much as 11 in the final quarter of play, but both teams ended up scoring 18 points a piece in the final frame to finish the game.  

Aquinas shot 39% from the floor after going 23-59, including 4-19 (21.1%) from the three-point arc and 9-23 (39.1%) at the free throw line. The Saints held the Jaguars to a 30.4% field goal percentage as GSU went 17-56, while making five of 17 (29.4%) from downtown and 14 of 23 (60.9%) from the free throw stripe.

Leading the way for the Saints was freshman Isabel Reemsnyder as she scored 23 points off the bench with 12 of them coming in the final quarter to close out the victory. Reemsnyder made six two-point shots, two three-pointers, and was a perfect five for five from the charity stripe, while grabbing four rebounds. Also coming off the bench was freshman Alexis Thomas who led the team with 14 boards and chipped in nine points.

Daz'Sha Day and Brighton Miller finished with seven points a piece with Miller also grabbing six rebounds. Jordyn Wigg, Day, and Thomas each led the team with three assists.

Aquinas led Governors State in rebounds (49-34), assists (14-10), and blocks (2-1), while GSU had eight steals to AQ's four and Aquinas had 26 turnovers compared to Governors State's 19. The Saints also held margins over the Jaguars in points off the bench (40-12), second chance points (12-7), and points in the paint (14-8).

Aquinas will next travel to Marion, Indiana to face Indiana Wesleyan on Thursday (Oct. 28), with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 PM.