The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's basketball team enters the 2021 season in defense of its East Coast Conference Regular Season Co-Championship, but much has changed.
One year ago, the Spartans bolted from the gate to win their first seven games, at one point holding a commanding 18-3 record. STAC claimed a share of the regular season conference title with Daemen on the last weekend of the season and took the top seed into the ECC Tournament before dropping a tough 66-60 semi-final decision to Molloy, ending the season with a 21-7 mark.
Already facing the loss of seniors Ruth Adams (ECC Player of the Year), Missy Sadler (1st Team All-Conference), and Kellyann Averill, ECC Coach of the Year Kim Lusk has seen further challenges for the upcoming campaign, as key returnees Emily Preston, Zaria Thomas (3rd Team All-Conference), and Sarah Scerback are not expected to see action in this abbreviated season.
Leading the returnees on the new-look Spartans is junior point guard Alexa Huertas (28 GP, 6.6 ppg), along with juniors Victoria Kurisko, Stefania Georgiou, and Chanel Brodeur-Muir; and sophomore Melissa Alifano. A very promising recruiting class will be pressed into action, featuring newcomers Sophie Dubreuil, Karolina Jaruseviciute, Katie Bischoping, Julia Reggio, Kaitlyn Watrobski, and Angelique Holguin.
"We're very young with no seniors," noted Coach Lusk, "but everyone is going to see playing time and a have chance to contribute so we'll see who steps up."
The Spartans are set to begin their COVID-truncated schedule on Saturday, January 23rd at 2:00 pm, hosting the front end of a home-and-home with American International College at Aquinas Hall; the teams will head to AIC for a Sunday rematch. Scheduling opportunities are limited this season not only by the late start, but the ECC has announced that only six teams have opted in for this season - STAC, Molloy, Mercy, Daemen, Roberts Wesleyan, and newcomer D'Youville, which STAC is not slated to play. The NE-10 has canceled its season and only AIC and Saint Rose will be participating, and the CACC has opted to play a conference-only schedule.
PLEASE NOTE THAT NO FANS WILL BE PERMITTED AT STAC HOME GAMES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
All home games will be broadcast live on the Spartan Sports Network.