The Dominican University women's basketball team erased a 12-point fourth quarter deficit, rallying for a 53-49 win over the Aurora University Spartans on Wednesday evening in the Igini Sports Forum.  The win snaps the Stars' 11-game losing streak and is the team's first win in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play this season.
 
"Today was proof that this team is tough when we are the aggressor," claimed Gabby Johnson, the Stars' fifth-year head coach. "We had a lot of different people step up at different times tonight. We went into the fourth quarter with a focus that helped us overcome the deficit we were facing."
 
After building up a 27-22 lead at the break, Dominican struggled in the third quarter managing just five points on 2-for-12 shooting while the Spartans went 8-for-12 from the field in the quarter to take a 42-32 lead into the fourth.
 
After a Spartan basket opened the scoring in the fourth, Dominican embarked on a 9-0 run sparked by Claudia DeNigris who scored eight points during the stretch, helping the Stars angle the Aurora lead down to three, 44-41, with five minutes to play.
 
After the Spartans snapped the Stars' run with a bucket in the paint, DeNigris scored four straight for Dominican before Lexi Hoskins connected on three of four free throws to put the Stars ahead 48-46 with 1:49 to play.
 
After a stop on the defensive end, Timiya Ray extended the Dominican lead to four, scoring from the right block before Amari Stafford and Katie Uzoras put the game away at the foul line in the final thirty seconds.
 
"The best part of the night was the excitement our team had for Katie to go to the foul line at the end of the game," said Johnson. "She is almost automatic from there and helped put away this great team win."
 
The teams both finished with 18 field goals on the night but Dominican was able to overcome a 1-for-16 night from behind the three-point line by making 28 trips to the foul line, converting on 16 attempts.
 
DeNigris finished with a team-high 15 points in the winning effort, scoring 12 in the fourth quarter.  After shooting just 1-for-8 from the field in the first half, DeNigris went 5-for-6 from the field in the second half, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter alone.  The senior rounded out the complete effort with eight rebounds, including seven on the defensive glass.
 
Stafford added 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 from the foul line while Ray chipped in ten points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes.
 
For the Spartans, Adriana Ramirez scored a game-high 17 points despite fouling out with 3:46 to play.
 
Dominican, now 2-11 on the season and 1-8 in the NACC, continue league play on Saturday when the Marian University Sabres come to River Forest to visit the Igini Sports Forum.  Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.