The Aquinas women's basketball team started a new winning streak in the non-conference win over Grace Christian on Friday night (Nov. 19) in Sturrus Center. Marissa Brady dominated the entire game and ended up breaking the single game rebounding record with 26, passing Michaela Faber who had 25 on March 17, 2019 against Hastings (Neb.) in the NAIA National Tournament. Brady also finished with a double-double that included scoring 22 points and grabbing 26 rebounds, while nearly reaching a triple-double with seven blocks in the 62-41 win over the Tigers.
Aquinas improves its overall record to 6-3 on the season, while Grace Christian, an private school out of the National Christian College Athletic Association, saw its record drop to 2-2.
The Saints scored the first eight points out of the gate to take the first lead of the game. However, the Tigers responded with a run of their own, scoring the next 11 of 13 points to gain a one-point lead with 2:08 left in the quarter. AQ rebounded to score the next four points and jump ahead by three at the end of the first quarter. Aquinas separated itself in the second quarter by expanding its lead to as much as 14 points and going into halftime up by 13. The Saints outscored the Tigers 16-6 in the second stanza.
The third quarter belonged to Grace Christian as it was the one quarter that GCU outscored AQ. After the Saints pushed the lead to 16 with 7:22 remaining in the quarter, the Tigers started chipping away and eventually shrunk the deficit to seven in the next four minutes. AQ stabilized and gained back a double-digit lead heading into the final quarter. The Saints had another great quarter, outscoring the Tigers by 11 to secure the 21-point victory. Brady brought down her record breaking rebound with 24 seconds left on the clock.
Aquinas shot 19-52 from the field for a 36.5% shooting percentage. The Saints went 2-15 from behind the arc and did damage at the free throw stripe, going 22-30. AQ held Grace Christian to a 21.1% field goal percentage after going 12-57 from the field, including 3-20 from downtown and 14-16 at the charity stripe.
This was Brady's fourth double-double of the season and the first time in her career posting a 20 point-20 rebound game. She shot 8-19 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line, while ending up with 19 defensive rebounds and seven offensive boards. There were 13 Saints that contributed to the scoring column to today's win with Daz'Sha Day and Jordyn Wigg collecting eight points, while Brighton Miller added six. Wigg was also the leading distributor with five assists as Day and Miller also grabbed five boards.
Aquinas held advantages over Grace Christian in rebounds (56-27), assists (11-5), and blocks (9-1) with GCU stealing the ball nine times compared to AQ's eight. The Saints also committed 20 turnovers throughout the game and forced the Tigers into committing 12. Grace Christian scored 19 points off those turnovers with Aquinas scoring 12, while AQ led in second chance points (14-4), bench points (16-12), points in the paint (28-6) and both teams scored two fast break points.
Aquinas will play its fourth game in five days on the road against UM-Dearborn in a WHAC match-up. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Saturday (Nov. 20) in Dearborn, Michigan at Henry Ford College.
