Livonia, Michigan — Shots wouldn't fall for either team Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18), as both the Aquinas and Madonna women's basketball teams clashed in a defensive stalemate to close out their 2022-23 campaigns.
Aquinas (11-17, 6-14 WHAC) scored just enough to win its final game of the season, 47-39, on the road against the Crusaders (2-25, 0-20 WHAC). The Saints snapped a four-game losing streak in the process, while finishing off Madonna's winless conference season. It's the first time a team has gone winless in the WHAC since Marygrove — a team no longer a part of the conference — did so during the 2013-14 season.
The two teams combined to shoot 27-for-109 (24.8%) from the floor, 5-for-29 (from behind the arc (17.2%) and 27-for-47 (57.4%) from the free throw line. Aquinas shot a season-low 26.7% from the field and only made a single 3-pointer.
Yet, the Saints held an opponent under 40 points for the first time since the 2019-20 season when the blew out Cornerstone, 73-37, on Senior Day.
Four years later, three players who played in that rivalry game, experienced their last game for AQ this afternoon:
JaKarri Alven,
Brighton Miller and
Eliza Brown. Fellow seniors
Mauriya Barnes,
Jayda Smith,
Brionne Crews,
Josie Smith and Meghan Douglass also donned the maroon and white for the final time.
Barnes was the only player on either team to reach double figures, scoring 14 points with half of them coming at the charity stripe. Alven added nine points and seven rebounds to finish with 533 career points and 292 rebounds. Crews and
Isabel Reemsnyder each chipped in with seven points.
Ashley Hill and Marcela Rodriguez co-lead the Crusaders in scoring with nine points each.
After Madonna won the first quarter, 16-15, Aquinas took the second frame 10-8 to lead by a point at halftime, 25-24. Both teams only scored six points in the third quarter. Making free throws was the name of the game in the final 10 minutes.
The Saints scored 10 out of their 16 points in the final quarter from the free-throw line. Barnes went 5-for-6.
Aquinas will not be making an appearance at the upcoming WHAC Tournament after finishing tied for eight in the conference standings. Lourdes holds the tiebreaker to take the last spot in the tournament after winning both head-to-head contest against each other this season: 68-64 at Lourdes on Nov. 30 and 71-61 at Aquinas on Jan. 25.
