BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 14, 2018) – Despite double-doubles from junior Destinee Hall (Spring Valley, N.Y./Keystone College) and sophomore Amber Brown (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick), the Mercy College women's basketball team suffered an 84-82 setback to Concordia College on Wednesday night at the Meyer Athletic Center.
The Mavericks (1-2) fall below .500 on the year with the loss, while the Clippers (1-2) pick up their first win of the year.
Brown had a game-high 24 points along with 13 rebounds and five assists. Hall finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting. Freshman Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) produced 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and junior Abigail Collier (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) recorded ten points and seven rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting.
Concordia was led by Nicole Nicholson who had a team-high 23 points.
Collier opened the scoring with a jumper at the 8:50 mark to give Mercy a 2-0 lead. The hosts came right back with a 10-0 run to build a 10-2 lead with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Mavericks cut the deficit to four, 10-6, following a Hall three-point play, but the Clippers followed with a 9-0 run to take a 19-6 lead with 2:42 on the clock. Mercy ended the quarter with six straight points, capped off by Hall three-pointer, to head into the second quarter down, 19-12.
Concordia increased the lead back to ten, 24-14, a minute into the second quarter. Mercy trimmed the Clipper lead to seven four times with the last time coming at the 4:09 mark of the frame with the score 31-24. However, the Mavericks could not get closer and the hosts ended the half on a 12-4 run to head into halftime up, 43-28.
The Clippers maintained a 15-point lead, 53-38, with six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Mercy answered back with a 7-0 run to make it 53-45 with 3:54 left in the period after two free throws from senior Cynthia Perez (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King). Concordia regrouped and ensued with a 12-4 run over two and a half minutes to take a 65-49 lead with 1:20 on the clock. The Mavericks would make it 65-53 at the end of three quarters following a Hall layup at the buzzer.
Mercy opened the final stanza on an 8-2 run, finished off by a Brown layup, that got the Mavericks within six, 67-61, with eight minutes left. Concordia had another answer and put the lead back to nine, 76-67, with 3:31 on the clock. Mercy continued to battle and cut the deficit to four, 83-79, with four seconds left after another three-point play from Hall. After Nicole Nicholson went 1-of-2 from the line for the Clippers, freshman Brianne Santos (Elmont, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) would nail a three at the buzzer to make it 84-82 but time ran out on the Mavericks comeback attempt.
Mercy shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) from the floor, 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from beyond the arc and 68.4 percent (26-of-38) from the foul line. Concordia shot 43.2 percent (32-of-74) from the field, 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from downtown and 56.0 percent (14-of-25) from the charity stripe. Both teams recorded 44 rebounds and Mercy held a 27-17 edge in bench points.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, November 20th when they play at Georgian Court at 8 p.m.
