Strong Second Half Rally Lifts Women's Basketball To 58-51 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas
Box Score
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Jan. 7, 2012) – C.W. Post rallied from a first half deficit to come back and defeat St. Thomas Aquinas, 58-51, in an East Coast Conference women's basketball matchup Saturday afternoon at the Pratt Recreation Center.
C.W. Post improves to 9-5 overall and 2-2 in the ECC. St. Thomas Aquinas dips to 7-7 overall and 2-2 in the ECC. It was the first regular season win against the Spartans for the Pioneers since a 54-46 win on the road on Jan. 30, 2010.
The Spartans opened the game with a 5-0 lead as C.W. Post's offense struggled to find its bearings in the early minutes.
The Pioneers tallied their first basket of the game at 14:45 on a layup from graduate forward
Catherine Lutz (Easton, Pa.). They quickly made it a 1-point game as Lutz stole the ball on the next possession and junior forward
Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit the jumper on a quick pass from sophomore guard
Alexis Peters (Dorchester, Mass.).
C.W. Post tied the game up at 7 with a three-pointer from junior guard
Ashley Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.) at 13:10. STAC regained the advantage with a layup from Briana Cook before a layup from freshman guard
Chelsea Williams (Copiague, N.Y.) tied the game up again.
The Pioneers took their first lead of game with a long triple from Lutz at 10:17 and were able to keep the Spartans off the leaderboard for nearly five minutes until Shpresa Liharevic converted a pair of free throws to tie the score at 19-19 with 5:22 to play.
STAC took the lead on a three-pointer from Sylvia Davis at 4:41 and the Spartans stretched it to six on a layup from Kim Vareles and a free throw from Davis. Liharevic hit the final jumper of the half at the 25-second mark to give her team a 27-23 lead at the break.
At the half, C.W. Post was converted 9 of 31 shot attempts, including 2 of 9 from long range, and was 3-for-5 at the charity stripe. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 9 of 28 from the field and was 7-for-8 at the line.
In the second half, C.W. Post stayed on the Spartans' heels and tied the game with back-to-back three-pointers from Caggiano and Lutz to make it 32-all with 14:38 left to play.
The teams battled through lead changes and ties over the next five minutes until Marciniak hit two free throws at 9:06 to give the Pioneers a 43-41 lead and started a 10-0 run that was capped off with a layup from up Kopp at 4:11.
STAC knocked the lead down to six (53-47) but could not put a stop to the Pioneers as they hung on for the win.
C.W. Post finished the game shooting .345 (19 of 55) from the field, including 15-for-17 behind the arc. Joyner led the Pioneers with 14 points while Marciniak finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. The Pioneers held a 45-39 advantage on the boards.
STAC completed the game shooting .300 (18 of 60) from the field. Briana Sloper led her team with a game-high 16 points, including two behind the line.
C.W. Post returns to action on Wednesday on the road at Mercy College for a 5:30 p.m. tip off.