Eight Mavericks Score as Women's Basketball Plays at St. Thomas Aquinas
Box Score SPARKILL, N.Y. (Jan. 11, 2017) – Despite eight Mavericks scoring four or more points, the Mercy College women's basketball team dropped a 74-54 decision to ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday evening at Aquinas Hall Gym.
The Mavericks (2-13, 0-7 ECC) remain winless in ECC play, while the Spartans (13-4, 7-2 ECC) have won six of their last seven games.
Sophomore Destinee Hall (Spring Valley, N.Y./Keystone College) led the way with nine points and six rebounds for Mercy. Sophomore Cynthia Perez (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King) and freshman Caralie Wilson (Gold Coast, Australia/John Paul College) added eight points, while junior Latisha Clark (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill) recorded seven points and a team-high-tying seven rebounds. Junior Monet Keane-Dawes (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) posted seven points and a team-high-tying seven rebounds and sophomore Chi-la Bady (Valley Stream, N.Y./Francis Lewis) netted six points.
St. Thomas Aquinas was paced by Kellyann Averill who had a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The opening quarter saw the score tied at 2-2 following a Clark jumper with 7:57 remaining in the frame. The hosts immediately followed with four straight to take a 6-2 lead before Keane-Dawes drained a three with 4:25 left in the frame to make it 8-7. That would be the closest the Mavericks could get as the Spartans closed the period on a 12-2 run to take a 20-9 lead after one quarter of play.
Wilson cut the deficit to single digits, 20-11, on a layup to begin the second quarter. However, St. Thomas Aquinas came back on a 16-6 run to increase the lead to 19, 36-17, with 4:45 remaining in the half. Jenna Erickson later made it a 22-point game, 44-22, at the 1:56 mark before Hall ended the half with three straight points to make it 44-25 at halftime.
The Spartans held a 47-26 advantage with 8:33 left in the third quarter, but Mercy would not go down without a fight and responded with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 14, 47-33, at the 6:53 mark. The momentum did not last long as St. Thomas Aquinas closed out the quarter on an 11-5 run to have a 58-38 margin after three quarters.
The Mavericks continued to battle in the fourth quarter and trimmed the Spartans lead to 15, 58-43, after a pair of Hall free throws at the 8:31 mark. St. Thomas Aquinas put the game away with a 13-3 run that made it 71-46 with 3:59 left to play and Mercy was unable to recover.
Mercy shot 27.6 percent (16-of-58) from the floor, 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from downtown and 65.4 percent (17-of-26) from the charity stripe. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 43.3 percent (29-of-67) from the field, 35.0 percent (7-of-20) from beyond the arc and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the foul line. The Spartans held a 47-38 edge on the glass and turned 20 Mercy turnovers into a 21-6 edge in points off turnovers.
Head Coach Jim Harter and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, January 14th when they host the University of the District of Columbia at 12:30 p.m. at Westchester Community College.
