Keane-Dawes and Clark Lead Way as Women's Basketball Picks Up 59-51 Victory Over Felician
Box Score ORANGEBURG, N.Y. (Nov. 22, 2015) – Powered by a team-high 12 points from sophomore Monet Keane-Dawes (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) and a double-double from classmate Latisha Clark (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill), the Mercy College women's basketball team picked up their first win of the 2015-16 season with a 59-51 victory over Felician University on Sunday afternoon at the 3rd Annual Regina Rivera Memorial Tournament.
The Mavericks (1-3) snap a three-game losing streak to begin the season, while the Golden Falcons (0-4) remain winless on the year.
Keane-Dawes added five rebounds and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, while Clark picked up her first double-double as a Maverick with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Paxton Reddington (Holmdel, N.J./Brookdale CC) chipped in 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting and senior Deasia Goodson (Freeport, N.Y./SUNYIT) netted eight points and 11 boards. Sophomore Casey Sullivan (East Lyme, Conn./Saint Bernard) recorded eight points and eight rebounds and freshman Chi-la Bady (Valley Stream, N.Y./Francis Lewis) ended the afternoon with seven assists.
Felician was paced by Eliana Scanlon who had a game-high 15 points along with five steals.
An offensive struggle broke out between the two teams as neither side was able to shoot higher than 30 percent from the field on the day. The Mercy defense held the Golden Falcons to just 25.7 percent (19-of-74) from the floor in the game, which included Felician connecting on only 15.4 percent of their attempts in the first half.
The opening quarter saw a combined 14 points scored as Mercy jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before the Golden Falcons evened things up at 4-4 with five minutes left in the frame. The Mavericks closed the period out on a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 advantage heading to the second quarter.
Mercy came out in the second stanza and scored six of the first seven points to increase their lead to double figures, 16-5, following a pair of Clark free throws with 6:21 left before half. A Danelle Gibson trifecta cut the Mavericks lead to eight, but Mercy ensued with a 6-0 run to take their largest lead of the half, 22-8, and maintained a 25-13 edge at halftime.
A Bady jumper at the 8:09 mark of the third quarter increased the Mavericks lead back to 14, 29-15, but Felician responded with a 17-8 run over the next six minutes to cut the Mercy lead to 37-32. However, Sullivan had a response as she nailed a triple on the next possession that increased the lead back to eight and the Mavericks kept it there as they headed to the fourth quarter up 42-34.
Reddington drained a three-pointer at the 5:07 mark of the fourth quarter to give back Mercy a double-digit lead, 48-38. The Golden Falcons had one last run in them as they went on an 11-2 spurt to get within one, 50-49, with 2:42 left.
Sullivan followed with a pair of free throws to make it 52-49 before Treanda Foster came down the court and made a layup to once again get Felician within a point, 52-51, with two minutes left. A pair of free throws from Bady over the course of the next minute upped the Mavericks lead to 54-51 with one minute left.
After the Golden Falcons missed a layup on the ensuing possession, the Mavericks called timeout. Out of the timeout, Keane-Dawes delivered the dagger with a triple to give Mercy a 57-51 lead with only 29 seconds left and the Mavericks held on for their first win of the season.
The Mavericks shot 28.3 percent on the day but were helped by the fact they went 23-of-32 from the charity stripe compared to Felician's 10-of-15 from the line.
Head Coach Rashidi Aikens and the Mavericks will look to build off the win as they host the University of Puerto Rico Bayamon on Tuesday, November 24th at 5:30 p.m.
