SPARKILL, New York - The American International College women's basketball team completed a strong weekend by downing D'Youville University 72-46 at Saint Thomas Aquinas College on Sunday, November 16.

AIC is now 2-0 on the season.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with two early tie scores. AIC did get ahead on back-to-back buckets set up by Tia-Marie Martinez, as she found Keyvanna Bennett and Chelsea Reeves for buckets, the later after Martinez swiped the ball from Morgan Giancaterino. The Yellow Jackets were unable to pull away, however, and only led 12-11 at the first break.

In the second, however, AIC kicked the doors off. Eden Monka made two baskets in a 6-0 run, and then added a jumper before Ahliya Phillips swiped the ball and sent Ruzgar Christina Boyle the other way for a three to force a Saints timeout and build a 10-point lead with 6:06 to go in the half.

The Yellow Jackets were just getting started. Over the next four minutes, AIC outscored the Saints by a 16-4 margin, with Bennett, Boyle, Monka, Martinez, and Alicia Aznar Chamorro all contributing points. Martinez also landed the final shot of the half, a triple from Monka, giving her squad a 42-19 lead at the break.

The first two minutes of the third went by scoreless before Monka knocked down a deep shot at the 2:19 mark. Incredibly, that was the only field goal AIC made in the frame in the first 6:39 before a three by Martinez went through, but the Saints only scored seven points of their own in the stretch, and AIC led 51-25 after the captain's triple. Peyton Grant, who found Martinez open for that three, then reversed roles to end the frame, taking Martinez's pass and draining a deep shot to send AIC to the final frame up 57-32.

AIC had no issue closing out the game, starting on a 7-2 run in the first two minutes centered around a Phillips three. Martinez put away one more triple, and Sarai Gurley landed AIC's final field goal of the game, which at the time gave the Yellow Jackets a 31-point edge in the 26-point win.

As a team, AIC shot 29-of-64, or 45.3 percent, from the field, with nine of 16 from deep making it through for a 56.3 percent success rate. The Yellow Jackets won the turnover battle 17-11 and made it count, outscoring the Saints 26-5 on takeaways, and also notched all 14 of the game's fastbreak points. 

Bennett had the season's first double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, tying Monka for the team's scoring lead in the game. Martinez notched 12 as she went four-of-five from deep, and Boyle also broke double digits with 10 points. Martinez and Grant split the team assist lead with four; the duo handled the ball exceptionally well, with only a single turnover between them. 

The Yellow Jackets will next turn their attention to a Northeast 10 Conference opponent as they visit Southern Connecticut State University for a nonleague matchup on Wednesday, November 19 at 5:30 p.m.