Aquinas shot nearly 57% from the floor in the first half and jumped out to a 25-point halftime lead on Wednesday evening, defeating Lourdes 84-58 at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
The Saints committed turnovers on their first three possessions of the game as Lourdes jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. Once Aquinas started shooting the ball though, they went on a 19-6 run to take the lead for good. The Saints made their first six shots from the floor, four of which came from three-point range, as part of a 69.2% shooting clip in the opening 10 minutes. Lourdes connected at a 42.1% rate in the first quarter but still trailed 32-21 after one.
Lourdes shot just 15.8% in the second, making just three field goal attempts. A 13-1 run by the Saints over four minutes pushed the lead to 25 and Aquinas maintained that advantage, taking a 57-32 lead into the locker room.
Aquinas cooled off in the second half, shooting just 36% while making only nine field goals over the final 20 minutes but the Gray Wolves were never able to make a second half run to climb back into the contest.
"Aquinas does a great job in transition offense and put a lot a pressure on us to perform at a higher level defensively," head coach
Summer Quesenberry said afterwards. "We were able to make the halftime adjustments but unfortunately couldn't overcome the deficit of the second quarter. We did a much better job of taking care of the ball this game but unfortunately didn't shoot the ball well from the floor only connecting on 20-of-79 (25.3%) shots."
Lourdes committed only 10 turnovers in the contest while forcing 22 Saints miscues. The Gray Wolves also grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, but were still outrebounded for the contest 58- 40 overall.
Elayna Ackerman (Fremont, Ohio/Ross H.S.) led Lourdes with 14 points while
Jesse Fidler (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold H.S.) and
Molea Thompson (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison H.S.) added 12 points each. Fidler also grabbed nine rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end of the floor.
Bri Spica led Aquinas (12-9, 6-7 WHAC) with 23 points, all in the first half. She made her first eight shots from the floor, including six three-pointers, finishing the game 8-of-9 from the field. Hannah Brefeld was also 8-of-9 from the floor and finished with 21 points as four Saints scored in double figures.
Lourdes (5-16, 3-10) continues its homestand on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves welcome Marygrove to the Ebeid Rec Center. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
