The Aquinas women's basketball team took care of business on its home court against Madonna on Monday evening (Feb. 7) in Sturrus Center. The Saints jumped on the Crusaders early by scoring the first 11 points of the game en route to the 69-54 victory.
AQ's overall record improves to 14-13 on the season with a 9-8 conference record, pushing back into the fifth spot in the WHAC over Lawrence Tech. MU now has a record of 6-18 on the year and are 5-10 within the conference.
The Saints had five different players contribute in the 11-0 run to open the game, while also holding the Crusaders to zero points through the first 6:45. AQ closed out the first quarter with an eight point lead with the scoreboard reading 13-5. The second quarter was more balanced as both teams added 11 points to their side of the scoreboard. Everyone contributed to the offensive effort for the Saints as eight players registered at least a point, but no one had over five points at halftime. Combined with the effort on the defensive end, Aquinas held a 24-16 lead at the break.
The third quarter was the defining quarter for AQ, opening the lead up to as much as 19 points over the Crusaders. That effort was led by
Marissa Brady and
Eliza Brown, who scored eight and seven points respectively. Madonna showed its fight in the final quarter by not backing down and scoring 10 of the first 12 points to cut the AQ lead down to 10. Brady and
Daz'Sha Day took over from that point, combining to score 20 of Aquinas' final 22 points. Brady dominated the quarter, scoring 15 of her career-high 28 points. When the final whistle blew, the Saints came away with a 15-point victory.
Aquinas shot the ball at a 38.1% clip by going 24-63 from the floor, 6-16 from three, and 15-24 from the free throw line. Madonna was held to a 34.9% shooting percentage on 22-63 shots including 6-23 from behind the arc and 4-8 from the charity stripe.
Along with Brady's career-high 28 points, she collected her 17th double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and also had four blocks. Off the bench, Brown was the only other Saint in double figures with 10 on three treys and a free throw. Day led AQ with six assists to go along with her nine points, two rebounds, and two steals.
Nine different Saints ended up scoring the basketball with
Isabel Reemsnyder (5),
Brighton Miller (5),
Mauriya Barnes (5),
Jayda Smith (4),
Destini Lewis (2), and
Jordyn Wigg (1) also contributed in the scoring column.
Aquinas grabbed 49 rebounds in the game compared to Madonna's 37, while also leading in assists (19-12) as MU had more steals (12-10) and blocks (7-4). The Saints were able to score 24 points off the 19 turnovers created against the Crusaders.
AQ will play its third game in five days by traveling to Lawrence Tech for its last road game of the regular season. The game in Southfield, Michigan will tip-off at 5:30 PM on Wednesday (Feb. 9).
