Box Score The Aurora University Spartan women's basketball team hosted the Stars of Dominican University Wednesday night. Dominican entered with the best record in the NAC South Division as they are 10-5 overall and 6-2 in conference games. After building a large lead, the Stars held off the comeback attempt
of the Spartans and earned the 67-50 victory.
The Stars were hot from three-point land early on. Aurora scored on their first two possessions but both of these field goals were answered by Dominican three-point field goals. They added another trey quickly after to give themselves a 9-4 lead out of the gate.
Both teams went back and forth for a while with Aurora keeping themselves within reach of the Stars. They trailed by 4 with just under 13:00 left in the opening half until Dominican made three quick baskets. This extended their lead to 11 by a score of 21-10 with 10:42 left.
Aurora climbed back as they established a good defense and recorded three blocked shots over the next 3:30 of game time. This defense, along with good shooting, allowed Aurora to climb back. An 11-2 run cut the lead to just two points (25-23) with just 1:26 remaining in the half.
After another Dominican basket and two free-throws the half concluded with a score of 29-23 in favor
Without the good defense by Aurora, they would have been out of contention. Aurora held Dominican to 33.3% from the field in the opening half.
The second half opened up with a the Stars once again starting out hot from three-point range. The visitors drained two three point field goals to extend the lead to 12 (35-23).
The Spartans battled with Dominican over the next four minutes and found themselves within nine points of the lead (40-31) with just over 14 minutes remaining.
Dominican started to run away with the game after their 8-0 run spanning four minutes. This run extended their lead to 17 with 10:02 left. The Stars never looked back at this point in the game.
Aurora tried to fight but could only come as close as 11 points (53-42) for the remainder of the game. Dominican won the game with a final score of 67-50.
With the loss, Aurora moves on to 2-14 on the season and 1-8 in the NAC. Their next game comes at home against Lakeland College this Saturday (Jan. 21) with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m.
