Grand Rapids, Mich. – The AQ women's basketball team returned to the Sturrus Center this afternoon (Dec. 29) with a head-to-head matchup against the Trailblazers of Ohio Christian. This was the first time AQ played on its home court since the December 10th win against UM-Dearborn. The Trailblazers closed the score late, but Saints managed to hold off Ohio Christian to win the game 67-64 and pick up their second consecutive win.

AQ improves to 7-7 on the season while OCU falls to 4-10.

The first quarter kicked off the high-scoring first half as both teams traded buckets on each side of the court. A layup and a three-point-play from JaKarri Alven tied the game at 12 with five minutes to play in the first quarter. Back-to-back jumpers from Brighton Miller gave the Saints a slim lead as the clock wound down in the first, but Rachel Bolyard of OCU continued to respond to keep the game tied.

A layup from Alven gave the Saints a three-point lead with just 13 second left to play in the quarter. However, Bolyard made her fourth three-pointer of the quarter to tie the game at 21 with just five seconds left on the clock.

Bolyard, a senior on the trailblazers, lit up the scoreboard in the first quarter and was the entirety of the visiting sides' offense. She scored 17 of Ohio Christian's 21 points in the first quarter.

The Trailblazer's three-point barrage continued to begin the second quarter, giving the visiting side a quick lead. AQ responded with a pair of jumpers and a couple free throws to take the lead back. The game remained within one possession until a three ball from Miller gave AQ a two-possession lead with just over five minutes left on the clock. Miller went on to score the next four points for the Saints as AQ held onto a slim lead.

Jayda Smith closed out the second quarter with a pair of buckets to give AQ a 41-37 lead with both teams heading into the locker rooms. Miller led the team in scoring with 14 points in the first half. Her 14-point total in just the first half is the most points Miller has scored since February 7th of 2021.

Miller started the second half with another three to give Aquinas a seven-point lead. The two sides continued to battle with AQ holding a single-digit lead throughout the entirety of the third quarter. Smith put away a layup with a minute and 30 seconds to go in the third to give AQ a 55-49 advantage. Neither side managed to score to end the third as the score remained the same with just a quarter to play.

Aquinas picked up its largest lead of the game with a nine-point advantage after Delaney Bailey scored a free throw with seven minutes and 33 seconds left to play. However, the Trailblazers slowly chipped away at the AQ lead, eventually decreasing the deficit to just one point after two three-point shots. A free throw from OCU with just two minutes left to play tied the game at 62-62.

A series of fouls and missed shots gave AQ a 66-62 lead with just 30 seconds left to play. Bolyard would proceed to score two free throws off an Aquinas foul to narrow the lead back to just two points. Mauriya Barnes was fouled on the next possession with 17 seconds left to play and scored one of her free throws to give Aquinas a three-point advantage.

Lockdown defense from the Saints stalled the attempted play from OCU and closed out the game 67-64. This is the second consecutive victory for the Saints where they scored 67 in each game.

Miller ended the game with 19 points, the most she has scored since she dropped 22 against Grace Christian back in 2019. She ended the game shooting 8-15 from the field and 3-7 from beyond the arc. She also added three rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block to her stat line.

Alven nearly ended the game with a double-double as she totaled 10 points and eight rebounds.

Barnes was the third Saint to score 10 or more points as she tallied 10 points after shooting 3-9 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line. She added a block and an assist to her stat line as well.

Brionne Crews played well defensively for the Saints as she set a career-high in rebounds with nine in addition to her two blocks.

As a team, Aquinas held a huge advantage in rebounds, beating out OCU 54-38. AQ also led in steals (9-8) and field goal percentage (37.3-29.0). OCU held the advantage in three-point field goal percentage (32.3-15.8), three throw percentage (75.0-58.3), assists (12-10), and turnovers (14-15).

The Saints return to conference action next week with a road game against Concordia on January 4th. The tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 PM in Ann Arbor, Michigan.