Women's Basketball Tramples Queens College 73-48 for ECC Win
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 14, 2012) – Senior point guard Simone Williams (Waldorf, Md.) scored 16 points and was not far off a triple-double as the Mercy College women's basketball team built up an insurmountable lead in the first half and rode it to the end for a 25-point victory over East Coast Conference rival Queens College on Saturday afternoon.
Mercy improves to 1-12 overall and 1-4 in the ECC this season with the victory, while Queens drops to 1-14 (0-5).
The Mavericks started an unusually tall lineup against a thin Knights squad, almost completely ignoring the three-point line in favor of high-percentage shots in the frontcourt, and managed to outshoot the Knights 42.5 percent to just 15 percent in the first half. The Knights scored the first three points of the game but that would be their only lead as the Mavericks outscored their opponent 36-10 in the first half, in large part because Mercy was able to limit Queens leading scorer sophomore guard Nicole Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.) to just three points on 1-9 shooting from the field (0-4 from behind the arc) and due to the Knights' poor 4-13 line from the charity stripe.
With such a commanding lead, the Mavericks eased up in the second half but held their margin to the end, posting the 73-48 victory for their first of the season. Every Mercy player who saw five or more minutes of court time recorded at least one steal as the Mavericks made 19 total in forcing a whopping 28 turnovers, twice as many as they committed themselves.
Simone Williams' 16 points led the team while she also contributed six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Senior forward Jasmine Williams (Stratford, Conn.) added 14 points and eight rebounds in only 23 minutes before fouling out and senior forward Talia Beaulieu (Waldorf, Md.) recorded 13 points and seven rebounds. Freshman forward Shaniqua Lewis (Staten Island, N.Y.) enjoyed her second consecutive solid performance, as she has averaged 4.5 points and 5.5 rebounds over the two games in just 38 minutes of playing time.
Caggiano found her shot in the second half to lead the Knights with 17 points, although she took nearly half the Knights' shots. She added five rebounds and four assists while sophomore guard Alexandra Marshall (Manorville, N.Y.) led the team with eight rebounds.
Head Coach Kelli Dunlay and the Mavericks will now look to build up a winning streak as they take a break from conference play and travel to UMass Lowell (5-10) over the long weekend for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff on Monday, Jan. 16.
