St. Thomas Aquinas Takes Down Women's Basketball in OT, 72-65
Box Score SPARKILL, N.Y. (Feb. 11, 2012) - In a game that featured eight ties and six lead changes, the C.W. Post women's basketball forced overtime on a three-pointer by
Felicia Joyner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) with three seconds remaining in regulation, but St. Thomas Aquinas took control in overtime to deal the Pioneers a 72-65 loss on Saturday afternoon in East Coast Conference action at Aquinas Hall.
The loss drops the Pioneers into a tie with the Spartans for third place in the ECC with identical 8-5 marks in the conference. C.W. Post now stands at 17-8 overall, while St. Thomas Aquinas improves to 13-10 on the season.
The first half saw the Pioneers open up an eight point advantage, 16-8, with 13:00 to play. The visitors maintained their lead for much of the first, leading 31-23 with 6:10 to play. But the Spartans engineered a 6-0 spurt that cut the lead to just one, and with 1:09 to play, Briana Sloper hit two free throws to give St. Thomas Aquinas the lead, 36-35 and send the Pioneers into the half trailing by one.
Nicolette Marciniak, who had a game-high 20 rebounds, gave the Pioneers the lead again with a layup to start the second half scoring, but the Spartans pulled ahead again and quickly stretched the lead to five points before the Pioneers answered by with a jumper by Joyner that tied the game at 45-45 with 12:57 to play.
The teams battled back and forth exchanging the lead over the next ten minutes of play and the Pioneers took a 55-52 lead after a trey by
Chelsea Williams (xx, xx) with 4:12 to play. But the Spartans scored eight straight and turned the Pioneer lead into a four point deficit with 2:14 to play. STAC stretched its lead to six points after two free throws from Shpresa Liharevic and led 61-55 with just over a minute remaining, but the resilient Pioneers got back-to-back treys from Joyner at 00:42 and 00:03 to tie the game and force overtime.
Two straight jumpers from Sloper to start the overtime period gave the Spartans a 65-61 lead, and despite a free throw by Williams and Marciniak that cut the lead to just a bucket, Bianca Kowgios put the hosts back up by four and a free throw by Sloper increased the lead to five. Marciniak hit a jumper that pulled the Pioneers to within three, 68-65 with 1:14 to play.
But Kim Vareles nailed a jumper and Liharevic hit two free throws to ice the win for STAC and had the Pioneers the loss.
Joyner scored 16 points to pace the Pioneers, who also had strong outings from Marciniak, who scored 10 points in addition to her 20 rebounds, and
Ashley Caggiano (Holbrook, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 points.
The Pioneers held a 49-42 advantage on the boards, bolstered by Marciniak's strong outing. CWP shot 25-72 from the floor and 7-12 from the line, while registering 15 assists but a season-high 21 turnovers, and scored 30 points in the paint and 14 points off turnovers.
The Spartans were led by 14 points from Kowgios, 13 from Sloper, and 12 from Liharevic.
C.W. Post returns home to host Molloy on Wednesday starting at 5 p.m.