Boxscore
SPARKILL, N.Y. – The Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team hung right with the East Coast Conference's St. Thomas Aquinas on the road at Aquinas Hall Mon. night until a little over six minutes into the second half, but eventually dropped its season-opener, 72-58.
The non-league game featured four ties, including the 43-43 tie at the 13:40 mark in the second half, but it was then that the Spartans (1-0) took the game over with an 18-4 run and then ran away with the season-opening win.
Despite the loss, the Lightning (0-1) were encouraged by the play of redshirt-sophomore guard Jacinda Jones, who recorded 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal in her first game coming off of a season-ending ACL injury a year ago.
Two freshmen forwards, Devonne Richardson and Irene Hudson, led GBC in scoring and rebounding in their collegiate debuts. Richardson scored a team-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds and a team-high four steals, and Hudson posted a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Head coach Jen Carleton used three freshmen in her starting lineup.
The Lightning outrebounded STAC 49-41, but the Spartans outshot GBC 43.4 percent to 28.6 percent from the field for the game and 75.0 percent to 62.1 percent from the free-throw line. The Lightning were also 0-for-9 from three-point range while STAC was 5-18.
Leading the Spartans offensively was Colleen Vogel with a game-high 27 points and three assists. Briana Sloper nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds and Bianca Kowgios was STAC's third double-digit scorer with 10 points.
STAC got off to a quick start, scoring the game's first seven points before a GBC basket by Hudson stopped the bleeding nearly two minutes in. But the Spartans kept on attack, upping their lead to 12-3 before Carleton took a timeout.
After the timeout, STAC extended the lead to 18-7 before the Lightning settled into the game and came charging back with a 7-0 run to cut the Spartan lead to four.
But back came the Spartans with a run of their own, sparked by a three-point field goal by Shpresa Liharevic to go back up by seven. A couple of layups by Vogel and Sloper, some free-throws by Kowgios and another three-point field goal, this time by Vogel, and suddenly STAC had its biggest lead of the night at 32-19.
Still, the Lightning kept fighting, and worked their way back into the game by closing out the half on a 15-3 run to pull within one, 35-34. Jones scored four points, blocked two shots and had one assist and one steal during the run. She capped off the run with a steal and a layup with just 12 seconds left in the half, and it looked as though GBC, the winner of last year's matchup at the Jones Center, had the momentum going into the intermission.
Not 40 seconds into the second stanza, Devonne Richardson gave the Lightning their first lead of the game, 36-35 by making both her free throws. Three ties and two lead changes would ensue, but the Spartans would ultimately take over the game after a 43-43 tie at the 13:40 mark.
GBC is back in action on Sat. afternoon, 3 p.m. as the Lightning host Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in their home opener at the Joseph West Jones Center.
