The Aquinas women's basketball team completed the season sweep over Lourdes on Wednesday evening (Jan. 19) in Sylvania, Ohio. The Saints ended up winning 70-54 for a 16-point victory after trailing by three at halftime.
AQ's overall record improves to 12-9 on the season after winning three straight games. The Saints now sit in fifth place in the WHAC with a 7-4 conference record. LU now has a record of 7-13 on the year and 1-10 within the conference.
In the win, Marissa Brady broke the AQ single season blocked shot record and now has 79 on the season. The record was previously held by AQ career shot block leader Jackie Braspenninx, who blocked 75 shots during the 2003-04 season.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth slugfest with Lourdes coming out and leading the first six minutes of the game. At the four minute mark, Aquinas took its first lead of the game as the teams changed the lead three times before the quarter ended. This trend continued into the second quarter as the lead changed another four times and no one held more than five-point lead. Mauriya Barnes kept the Saints in the ball game in the first half by scoring 10 of her 14 total points. The Gray Wolves ended up taking a 29-26 lead into the locker room.
The AQ offense started to click more in the third quarter as the Saints went 8-12 from the field, including 4-6 from downtown. The defense held LU to a 33.3% shooting percentage in the period and was able to lead 46-44 into the final quarter. The fourth period is where AQ asserted its dominance, outscoring Lourdes by 14 points. Brady led the way with 10 points in the quarter alone as the Saints made another eight field goals and seven free throws compared to the four field goals and one free throw by the Gray Wolves. After tying the game up at the 7:33 mark, AQ went on a 19-3 run to end the game and give the Saints the double-digit win.
Along with breaking the single season blocked shots record by recording four blocks tonight, Brady finished with a 19 point and 16 rebound double-double to catapult Aquinas to a victory. Barnes finished with a career-high 14 points to make it five straight games with double-digit points off the bench. She also had three rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Daz'Sha Day and Isabel Reemsnyder both scored 11 points a piece in the win. Day also had four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block, while Reemsnyder finished with three rebounds and two assists. Eliza Brown had the most assists for AQ with four as well as scoring seven points and grabbing three rebounds. Brighton Miller scored the final eight points to go along with her five rebounds and three assists.
The Saints finished with a 46.6% field goal percentage after making 27-58 shots, including 8-20 from behind the arc and 8-11 from the free throw line. The Gray Wolves went 23-64 from the floor for a 35.9% shooting percentage, while going 4-21 from downtown and 4-7 from the charity stripe.
Aquinas outrebounded Lourdes by a 42-31 margin, while also having more assists (15-12) and blocks (6-2). LU held a 14-6 advantage in steals. AQ collected more bench points (21-12) and second chance points (14-2), while the Gray Wolves scored more points off turnovers (20-15), points in the paint (34-28), and fast break points (10-0).
Aquinas will return back to Sturrus Center to try and extend the winning streak against UNOH on Saturday (Jan. 22), with tip-off scheduled for 1:00 PM.
