No. 22 Firebirds Withstand Battle vs. Spartans for 69-66 Comeback Victory; Earn School Record 25th Win

SPARKILL, NY – The No. 22 University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team erased a nine-point deficit with under seven minutes left in regulation to beat East Coast Conference foe St. Thomas Aquinas, 69-67 and earn its school-record, 25^th win of the season in both teams' regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at Aquinas Hall.

The Firebirds, who had already clinched an outright ECC Regular Season Championship and No. 1 seed in next week's ECC Tournament, earned their 14^th straight victory and improved to 25-3 overall (18-2 ECC). The Spartans, who were already locked in as the No. 6 seed for the ECC Tournament, fell to 13-16 overall and 9-11 in league play.

STAC, which had a chance to tie with possession and 19 seconds on the clock, failed to even get a shot off as the Firebirds' defense clamped down to preserve the win and maintain or possibly improve upon UDC's No. 22 national ranking and No. 4 East Region ranking.

With the Spartans keying on UDC's top two leading scorers, senior forward Denikka Brent and senior guard Telisha Turner, junior transfer forward Iman Scott (Health Education – Hagerstown, MD/Baltimore City Community College) stepped up for the Firebirds with 19 points and nine rebounds – both season-highs. Just a 27-percent three-point shooter for the season heading into the game, Scott knocked down 4-of-7 from long range (7-of-12 total FG) to help keep the Firebirds within striking distance. Then, after taking only four free-throws in the first 35 minutes of the game, UDC converted 10-of-12 free-throws in the final five minutes and out-scored the Spartans 16-7 down the stretch to pull away the two-point victors.

Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum) and Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) collectively shot a mere 9-of-29 from the field, but managed to score 14 and 13 points, respectively as they combined to shoot 7-of-8 from the foul line all during the final five minutes of the game. Junior point guard Shantrel Oliver (Criminal Justice – Columbia, MD/River Hill HS) added a team-high five assists while also making 3-of-4 crucial free-throws in the final minutes of regulation as well.

The Spartans were led by sharp-shooting guard Kristen Olsen, who made 6-of-7 from behind-the-arc (8-of-12 FG) to lead all scorers with 23 points. Her backcourt counterpart, Jenna Erickson, packed the stat sheet with 17 points, a game-high eight assists and five rebounds.

STAC  out-shot UDC 41-percent to 38-percent from the field and 50-percent to 42-percent from three-point range; however, the Firebirds made three more field goals than the Spartans as they were granted 13 more FG attempts (64-51) as a result of seven fewer turnovers (21-14) and 12 offensive rebounds (including five by junior forward Tatyana Calhoun). UDC had 14 second-chance points to STAC's six, 24 points off of turnovers to the Spartans' 18, and the Firebirds outscored their hosts 28-16 in the paint.

UDC will meet the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 ECC Quarterfinal matchup in the ECC Semifinals on March 7^th hosted by LIU Post in Brookville, NY.