Cold-Shooting Firebirds Fall, 58-46 at St. Thomas Aquinas

SPARKILL, NY – Like the temperatures in the Northeast this weekend, the Firebirds were ice cold from the field in a 58-46 East Coast Conference loss to St. Thomas Aquinas at Aquinas Hall Sunday afternoon.

The loss drops University of the District of Columbia to 3-9 in league play (8-14 overall), as the Firebirds remain two games back of idle Queens for the 6^th and final playoff spot.  Meanwhile, the Spartans improved to 7-5 in the ECC (11-11 overall) and remain just half a game behind LIU Post for 4^th place in the league standings.

Sophomore guard Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) was the lone Firebird scorer in double-figures with 12 points and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Ty Abilla (Mass Media – Galloway, NJ/Absegami HS) also scored a season-high nine points, eight of which came in the first half.

St. Thomas Aquinas' Shpresa Liharevic led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field. Liharevic surpassed the 1,000 point mark for her career early in the 2^nd half. Also, senior point guard Bianca Kowgios had great success running the Spartan offense, registering 11 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists. Meanwhile, Alyson Brennan cleaned up the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds and also added eight points.

It took the Firebirds nearly five minutes to get on the board with a pair of Abilla free-throws as the Spartans charged out to a 10-0 lead early on. Abilla would add three consecutive two-point baskets as she scored the first eight District of Columbia points to bring the Firebirds back in the game, 10-8 with 11:26 remaining in the first half. Still trailing by two (14-12) after a jump shot by Brent, STAC used a 5-0 run to pad its lead to 19-12 following a Liharevic three-pointer. The Spartans led 21-14 as the clock dipped under eight minutes, but District of Columbia closed within 21-18 at the 5:09 mark with a 4-0 run. STAC went on to finish the first half on an 8-2 run, including a Liharevic jump shot at the buzzer to send the Spartans into the locker rooms with momentum on their side.

Riding that momentum from their run at the end of the first half, STAC out-scored District of Columbia, 14-4 in the opening 6:36 to open up its largest lead of the afternoon, 43-24. The Firebirds went on a 6-0 surge to close within 13 and used a 9-1 run in the waning moments of regulation to pull within 10, but it was too little too late, as they fell by a final score of 58-46.

Neither team shot particularly well (STAC – 34%; UDC 30%), but the Spartans owned the boards with a 51-36 disparity, including 20 offensive rebounds leading to 15 second-chance points. Also, the two teams were even with 15 turnovers, but the Spartans more than doubled-up the Firebirds in assists (13-6).

The Firebirds will look to stay alive in the ECC playoff hunt as they host LIU Post on Wednesday, February 13^th at 5 p.m.