AMHERST, N.Y. – Freshman Jenna Erickson (Melrose, N.Y.) drilled six three-pointers and totaled 20 points to lead St. Thomas Aquinas College to a 59-55 victory over Daemen College here tonight in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.
 
Daemen saw its two-game winning streak come to an end and dropped to 10-12 overall and 7-9 in the ECC. STAC improved to 12-14 overall and 8-9 in the league.
 
Freshman Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) led the Daemen attack, as she totaled 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. It marked the fifth double-double of the year for Saba. Senior Shy Britton (Rochester, N.Y./Niagara University) flirted with a triple-double and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and a season-high eight blocks. Junior Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) added 10 points, while sophomore Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) scored six points and equaled her season-high for rebounds with 14. Galus also recorded three blocks and now stands five blocks shy of 100 for her career.
 
Sophomore Kaitlyn McCue (Bergenfield, N.J.) helped the STAC cause with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Erickson was 6-of-12 from three-point land, and her sixth triple of the game with 1:20 left to play gave the Spartans a 57-53 lead.
 
Neither team lead by more than four points over the first 12 minutes and STAC held a 16-15 lead when the Spartans netted seven-straight points and opened up a 23-15 after junior KC Sokolski (Elma, N.Y.) canned two free throws with 7:16 left in the half. The Wildcats answered with a 10-2 spurt that featured six points from Saba and four from Britton, but the Spartans outscored the hosts 8-2 over the final two minutes of the half and STAC took a 35-27 lead into the break.
 
The teams traded baskets for the first seven minutes of the second half before a jumper by Sokolski and a three-pointer by Erickson gave the Spartans their largest lead of the game, 47-36, with 12:21 left to play. Another triple by Erickson with 8:44 left gave the Spartans a 54-45 lead, but the Wildcats rallied with eight unanswered points and cut the lead to a point, 54-53, after Galus drained two free throws with 3:51 left. Neither team scored again until Erickson drilled her sixth three-pointer with 1:20 left.
 
Both teams struggled from the field, as Daemen finished 21-for-57 (37%) overall while the Spartans shot just 33-percent (22-for-67). Missed free throws and turnovers also hurt the Wildcats. Daemen was just 9-of-19 from the charity stripe and turned the ball over 17 times--which resulted in 14 points off turnovers for STAC. The Wildcats finished with a season-high 15 blocks in the game--five shy of the school record (20) set during the 2008-09 season.
 
Daemen returns to action tomorrow (Feb. 21) when it hosts Mercy College in an ECC game at 2 p.m. It will mark the final home game of the season for Daemen.
 
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