SPARKILL, N.Y. (Jan. 18, 2020) - A turnover-riddled first half sent the Queens College women's basketball team to a slow start on Saturday (Jan. 18) and a 71-42 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas College at Aquinas Hall in Sparkill, N.Y.

The Knights fell to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in East Coast Conference play with the loss while STAC improved to 13-3 on the year and an unblemished 5-0 in league action with the win.

The Knights fell behind at the half by a score of 42-17 as QC committed 16 turnovers in the opening twenty minutes of play. The Knights went just 7-for-22 (32%) from the floor in the first two quarters while the Spartans hit 53% (17-32) of their shots in the front half of the competition.

Tayanee Peay led the Knights with 11 points on the day to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Three players each totaled eight points for Queens in the effort: Raiana Brown, Chidinma Ndukauba and Lucy Tougas. Brown also corralled a team-high eight rebounds in the contest.

Emily Preston and Ruth Adams each scored a game-high 17 points for the host Spartans in the win with Preston collecting 12 of her points in the first half of the contest. Adams added five steals while Missy Sadler had eight points and eight rebounds for STAC.

Queens will return to action on Wednesday (Jan. 22) as the Knights host District of Columbia at 5:30 p.m. at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.