The Aquinas women's basketball team played its first home game of the season and defeated Huntington on Tuesday night (Nov. 9) in Sturrus Center. After being outscored in the first quarter, the Saints' defense held the Foresters to six points in the second and third quarters to distance themselves and take the 51-44 victory.
Aquinas improved its record to 2-2 early on in the season and Huntington, an NAIA school out of the Crossroads League, falls to 2-3.
Both teams started out hot from the floor in the first quarter with Huntington making seven buckets and Aquinas making six. The Saints were able to jump out to a five-point lead with 7:25 left and then again with 3:06 remaining, but the Foresters went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter and take a two-point lead. The defense then clamped down for both teams in the second stanza with AQ outscoring HU 9-6 and took a one-point lead into halftime.
The tide turned in favor of Aquinas in the third quarter as the defense continued to suffocate Huntington and the offense had its best quarter. The Saints extended the lead out to eight points with 6:24 remaining after a couple of layups and three free throws. The Foresters scored their only six points in the quarter over the next three minutes to cut the lead to five, but AQ followed that with a 6-0 run to close out the quarter and grab an 11-point lead. The fourth quarter got interesting as HU came out in a full court press and were able to cause eight turnovers in that 10-minute span compared to the 10 in the previous 30 minutes. After the AQ lead was cut to four with 47 seconds remaining, the Saints were able to make their free throws and close out the seven-point win.
Aquinas finished with a 37% field goal percentage after making 17-46 attempts. The Saints shot better from behind the arc than in previous games by going 6-21 and then also shot 11-14 from the free throw line. Huntington was held to a 26.2% field goal percentage by making only 16-61 shots. The Foresters struggled from downtown, going 2-16 and were also 10-13 from the free throw stripe.
Eliza Brown had a career-high 15 points after going 5-10 from the field, 2-6 from the three-point line, and 3-4 from the charity stripe, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Marissa Brady struggled early shooting the ball, but ended the night with a double-double after scoring 10 points, while collecting a team-high 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. Jordyn Wigg (five) and Brighton Miller (four) were the main facilitators for the Saints by dishing out nine of the 14 team assists.
Aquinas was narrowly outrebounded by Huntington by a 39-38 margin with the Foresters also holding a 14-5 advantage in steals. The Saints lead HU in assists (14-6) and blocks (8-1), while turning the ball over 18 times compared to 15 by the Foresters. Huntington also led in the categories of points off turnovers (14-13), bench points (14-7), points in the paint (22-18), and fast break points (6-0) with Aquinas leading in second chance points (8-6).
Aquinas will have a quick turnaround to begin conference play by hosting Lourdes tomorrow (Nov. 10) in Sturrus Center, with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 PM.
