The Aquinas women's basketball team pulled out a late, come-from-behind victory on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 13) at the Sturrus Center, with sophomore Brighton Miller hitting two free throws with nine seconds left to cap off the 54-52 victory. Lourdes took a 49-41 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Saints outscored the visitors by a 13-3 margin the remaining seven minutes of the game.
It was a big victory for Aquinas, which moved to 3-5 overall and 3-5 in WHAC play. Lourdes dropped to 4-8 on the year and also 3-5 in league action. The lead changed hands 15 times on Saturday and the score was tied on 10 occasions. Lourdes maintained the largest lead of the game – eight points – in the fourth quarter before AQ responded with the decisive run and allowed just one Lourdes bucket over the final seven minutes.
Aquinas, which only led by as many as five points in the win, was again led by junior Marissa Brady, who posted her seventh double-double in eight games. On Saturday, Brady scored 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting and added 11 rebounds, both of which were game-highs. JaKarri Alven also reached double figures with 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Alven hit a pair of three-pointers and handed out three assists.
Mauriya Barnes scored five points off the bench and Miller delivered four assists and three rebounds, along with her only two points of the game coming in the final 10 seconds and sealing the victory.
The Saints shot just 37.5 percent from the field, but held Lourdes to 34 percent shooting. LU did make 10-of-25 triple tries, but Aquinas dominated in other areas: a 26-8 edge in the paint and a 16-7 mark in points off turnovers. AQ committed just nine miscues, while forcing Lourdes into 18 turnovers. The Saints were just 8-of-15 at the line, but made 5-of-8 freebies in the pivotal fourth quarter.
AQ led 15-12 after the first quarter and it was a slight 26-24 edge at halftime. Things were all tied up at 41-all going into the fourth quarter after Brady tied the game late in the third quarter on a jumper.
Mary Liedel for Lourdes scored eight straight points (a jumper, two triples) in the opening two-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, which appeared to give the Gray Wolves control with a 49-41 advantage. It was 49-43 when Brady, Jordyn Wigg, and Alven scored on layups in a 90-second span to tie the score at 49-all.
Immediately, Lourdes answered with a three-pointer, but the Saints tied things again at 52-52 on a layup from Brady with 28 seconds to play. The assist on that Brady layup went to Miller, who was fouled on the other end of the floor after a missed Lourdes triple try.
With nine seconds left on the clock, Miller connected on both free throw tries for the 54-52 lead. Aquinas had not yet committed a foul in the fourth quarter, so the Saints purposely fouled Lourdes twice and then the Gray Wolves missed a potential game-winning three-pointer to give AQ the dramatic win.
The Saints have only a little time to celebrate the win, as Aquinas heads to Ann Arbor on Sunday (Feb. 14) for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff at Concordia.
