The Aquinas women's basketball team took on #11 Indiana Wesleyan in Marian, Indiana on Thursday night (Oct. 28). The Saints could not keep pace with the Wildcats as IWU won every quarter and eventually by a final score of 71-51 at Luckey Arena.
Aquinas now has a record of 1-1 through the first two games of the season and Indiana Wesleyan, an NAIA school out of the Crossroads League, begins its season 1-0.
The Wildcats started the game on an 8-0 run before the Saints could get a bucket and led by as many as 12. AQ was able to cut the deficit down to four, but IWU hit a three with 25 seconds left to take a seven point lead into the first break. Two quick Aquinas buckets at the beginning of the second quarter saw the deficit get cut to two. After that, the Indiana Wesleyan lead ballooned up to as much as 14 and eventually took a 13-point advantage into halftime.
The third quarter was back and forth with the Wildcats maintaining a 10 point lead for most of it until the last two minutes where they got six quick points and held a 16 point lead. There was not a lot of offensive action in the fourth quarter as AQ scored eight points and IWU scored 10 to make the final score read 71-51 in favor of the Wildcats.
Aquinas had a 35.3% shoot percentage after going 18-51 from the floor. The Saints struggled from downtown only making three of 13 from behind the arc and also were 12-22 from the free throw line. The Wildcats shot 37.7% from the floor after making 26-69 baskets. IWU made seven of 26 three point tries and were also 12-18 from the free throw stripe.
For the second time in the first two games, Isabel Reemsnyder paced the Saints offensively with 19 points on 6-10 shooting, including 3-5 from long range, and 4-5 from the charity stripe. Eliza Brown led AQ on the defensive end by collecting six rebounds, blocking three shots, and forcing three steals. Brighton Miller was the main facilitator with three assists.
JaKarri Alven and Mauriya Barnes also chipped in with seven points a piece as Reemsnyder added five boards.
Indiana Wesleyan led Aquinas in the categories of rebounds (43-37) and assists (18-7), as the Saints had more blocks (6-3), and both teams had 13 steals. There were a total of 54 turnovers with AQ having 30 and IWU turning the ball over 24 times. The Saints also held margins over the Wildcats in points off the bench (34-23) and fast break points (6-2), with IWU leading in second chance points (11-5) and points in the paint (34-26), and each team scoring 17 points off turnovers a piece.
Aquinas will next travel to Circleville, Ohio to face Ohio Christian on Thursday (Nov. 4), with tip-off scheduled for 5:00 PM.
