WATERBURY, Conn. – Five players scored in double figures for both Post University Women's Basketball and St. Thomas Aquinas College in what would be a New Year's Eve thriller in the Drubner Center. Sophomore forward Alyssa Rossignol had a career-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting while senior guard Syrita Faraj answered with a 31-point, 17-rebound double-double on 13-of-22 shooting as the Eagles outlasted the Spartans in overtime, 90-84, snapping a five-game losing streak. 

THE BASICS

Post University 90, St. Thomas Aquinas College 84 (OT)

Post University (2-11)
 
St. Thomas Aquinas College (3-10)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Eight points to start the game for sophomore guard Hannah Finnerty and seven points from Rossignol allowed the Eagles to jump out to a commanding 20-7 lead with 3:39 left in the opening quarter. Post would finish the frame with 24 points, which is the most they have had in a single quarter this season, but see their lead shrink to nine points in part to an 8-4 finish by the Spartans which got them within nine points, 24-15. 

Graduate forward Karolina Jaruseviciute and Faraj spearheaded a 5-0 start to the second quarter for St. Thomas Aquinas College, pulling them with four points, and eventually taking their first lead since the 9:05 mark of the first quarter, 29-28, on another make by Faraj with 5:24 remaining in the half. Finnerty's and-one make would give Post the momentum back with a 7-0 run to lead by six, but once again the Spartans answered back, cutting their deficit to two points, 37-35, at the break.

Faraj led the Spartans, who shot 15-for-30 (50%) from the floor, with 13 points while Finnerty had 11 first-half points for Post, who finished the half 13-for-32 (40.6%) from the field with a 5-for-8 start from three in the first quarter which dwindled to a 5-for-13 (38.4%) finish after going 0-for-5 in the second quarter of the affair. 

In a wild third quarter, it was the Rossignol and Faraj show for Post and St. Thomas Aquinas respectively as the sophomore for the Eagles poured in nine points compared to eight points for the senior for the Spartans. Out of the break, senior guard Jayden Burns briefly extended the Post lead to five points and the slim lead would be maintained for the Eagles until back-to-back threes by the Spartans gave them a two-point edge, 47-45. 

Following a Rossignol jumper to tie the game back up at 47 all, an ensuing 10-0 run by St. Thomas Aquinas threatened to help them pull away as Faraj reached 21 points during the stretch that lasted about two minutes. But back came the Eagles again with an and-one from freshman guard Jasmine Day-Cox and a jumper from Rossignol that got her to 16 points and cut the deficit in half to five points. 

Another lengthy 8-0 run following a three from sophomore guard Cassidy Mahaney brought Post to within one point, 60-59, as Finnerty, who had 15 points by the end of the quarter, and Day-Cox, who had 13 points by the end of the quarter, each went to work. Their scoring down the stretch made it just a two-point game, 62-60, with one quarter left to play in regulation. 

Trailing by seven points, Burns kicked off and ended an 11-0 run over the course of six minutes in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a four-point advantage, 72-68, with 3:30 left in regulation before a scoreless stretch that lasted nearly a minute and a half before a Mahaney three cut Post's lead to one and Faraj's layup gave the Spartans a one-point lead with 1:30 to go. 

Still leading by three with under 30 seconds to go, Faraj went to work again to hit a layup, and following a 1-for-2 trip to the line for graduate guard Erin Harris, she would reach 29 points with 1.3 seconds left on her layup to tie the game at 77. The two teams would head to a five-minute overtime period as the ensuing Post possession saw freshman guard Kamryn Porter's shot go off the mark. 

From the jump in overtime, it was all Eagles as Burns started a 7-0 run with a three, her third of the game, to give Post a lead they would never relinquish. The Spartans would shoot just 2-for-6 from the floor in the extra session and while the Eagles would only do them one better with a 3-for-6 performance, 10 free throw attempts which led to six more points would be the difference maker in the 90-84 overtime win. 

As a team, Post shot 43.1% overall from the floor, 40.9% from three-point range, and 70.4% from the free-throw line. Their mark from three-point land was the highest this season, while their free-throw percentage was the highest relative to the number of free throws they took in the affair. Finnerty also finished with a career-high 17 points for the Eagles, as did Jayden Burns with 16 points in the win. 

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Jasmine Day-Cox led Post University with a career-high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting with two threes made and five rebounds
•  For the first time this season, Post University had five scorers with double-digit points in Alyssa Rossignol (21 points), Hannah Finnerty (17 points), Jasmine Day-Cox (16 points), Jayden Burns (16 points), Naj White (12 points)
• The 24 points in the first quarter for Post University is the most in a single quarter for the Eagles this season, beating out their 23-point fourth quarter last game against Mercy University
• Syrita Faraj finished with a double-double for St. Thomas Aquinas College, scoring 31 points on 13-for-22 shooting and grabbing 17 rebounds in the loss

WHO'S NEXT
Post University heads into a stretch of seven consecutive conference games starting in the new year with a road matchup against 20th-ranked Holy Family University on Saturday, January 4th, 2025, at 1:00 PM. After losing their first 30 games against the Tigers, the Eagles have won three of the last four matchups since they got their first win in the head-to-head at home on January 2nd, 2022, in a 91-54 victory. Post has won their last two games against Holy Family including a 72-68 overtime win at home in January.