Lima, Ohio — Needing a win to keep hope alive in making the upcoming WHAC Tournament, the Aquinas women's basketball team suffered an unfortunate 73-65 defeat Wednesday night (Feb. 15) at the University of Northwestern Ohio.

The UNOH Racers, also desperate for a win to claim a spot in the conference tournament, didn't completely run out of steam despite four of their five players playing all 40 minutes and the other only getting a three-minute rest at the end of the first half due to foul trouble.

At the forefront of it all was UNOH's Jada Haines scoring a new career-high 33 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Alysia Lawson and Trinity Black-Raines also chipped in with 13 points each for the Racers.

UNOH (13-13, 8-11 WHAC) raced out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter. Haines made a 3-pointer with a minute and a half left, which was matched by a triple by AQ's Isabel Reemsnyder, and then converted a three-point play the old fashion way with 12 seconds remaining.

Aquinas (10-17, 5-14 WHAC) clawed back to get within four points after Emily Cline made a jumper with a minute and a half left before halftime. Yet, UNOH took a 33-26 lead into the locker room following a layup by Black-Raines and free throw made by Kalea Kruser.

The Saints' deficit ballooned out to 16 points nearing the end of the third quarter before Eliza Brown made her first shot attempt of the game — a 3-pointer — with 30 seconds remaining in the frame.  

Brown made two more from behind the arc in the fourth quarter to finish with nine points.

Things looked bleak for AQ, down 60-43 with 8:30 remaining and then 69-53 with just over two minutes left, but the Saints had one last push against a fatiguing Racers' squad. 

The Saints put together a 12-3 run in roughly one minute and 40 seconds to close within five points at 70-65. UNOH, however, made free throws and killed off the rest of the clock for a 73-65 victory.

AQ leading scorer JaKarri Alven scored five of her 17 points in the last two minutes. Reemsnyder notched 16 points with seven rebounds. Cline provided six points, six rebounds and a team-high three assists.

The Saints shot 42.9% from the floor despite going 2-for-12 (16.7%) in the first quarter. UNOH finished with 42.6 shooting percentage with 23 points coming off AQ turnovers.

Aquinas closes out the season on Saturday (Feb. 18) at Madonna. Due to head-to-head tiebreaker rules, the Saints can't surpass Lourdes (9-18, 6-13 WHAC) for the eight and final spot in the conference tournament if they finish with the same WHAC record.