DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2019) – Powered by three Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College women's basketball team earned an 83-79 victory over Wilmington University in their home opener on Wednesday night at Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (2-3) have now won two games in a row for the first time since February of 2018. The 83 points are the most scored by Mercy since an 83-56 victory over New Rochelle on February 14, 2018. The Wildcats (0-5) drop their fifth straight game to open the season.
Junior Amber Brown (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) led the way with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting and senior Abigail Collier (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) had 16 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) had a career-high 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and sophomore Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had seven points. Freshman Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had six points, five rebounds and three assists and freshman Trinity Hudson (Glen Cove, N.Y./Glen Cove) added six points.
Wilmington was led by Jadyn Whitsitt who had a game-high 25 points.
Mercy scored the game's first four points and took a 10-4 lead after a Wall layup at the 6:05 mark of the first quarter. Wilmington answered back with a 9-2 run to take a 13-12 lead and later held a 15-14 lead with 2:49 remaining in the opening quarter. The Mavericks closed out the first quarter on an 8-0 run, capped off by a Brown three, which gave Mercy a 22-15 lead after one quarter of play.
The Wildcats opened the second quarter by making it a four-point game, 23-19, at the 9:09 mark. Mercy went on a 4-0 spurt to put the lead to eight, 27-19, with 7:31 left in the first half. Wilmington cut the deficit to three, 32-29, after a Kasha Andrews three with 4:43 on the clock. The Mavericks responded with a 15-6 run to close out the half and take a 47-35 lead at halftime.
Wilmington started the second half on a 12-2 run to trim the Mercy lead to two, 49-47, with 5:42 remaining in the third quarter. The score was later 54-52 in favor of Mercy before the Mavericks went on a 9-2 run, finished off a Hudson three, which gave the Mavericks a 63-54 lead. A Mikala Casimir layup made it 63-56 after three quarters.
Mercy increased the lead back to eight, 70-62, with 6:49 left after a Hudson three. The Wildcats did not back down and came back on an 8-2 run to get within two, 72-70, with 4:04 remaining. Back-to-back layups from Brown put the lead back to six, but the visitors clawed their way back and tied the game up at 79-79 following an Andrews three with 36 seconds left.
After a Mercy timeout, Brown drew a foul and made both free throws to make it 81-79 with 25 seconds left. Collier then came up with a big steal on the other end and called timeout with six seconds left. Collier was then fouled and sank both at the line to give the Mavericks an 83-79 lead. Mercy's defense held the Wildcats in check for the final five seconds to earn the win.
Mercy shot 44.8 percent (30-of-67) from the floor, 36.0 percent (9-of-25) from downtown and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the charity stripe. Wilmington shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the field, 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from beyond the arc and 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the foul line. The Wildcats held a 45-36 edge on the glass and Mercy held a 21-5 edge in points off turnovers.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, November 23rd when they host Nyack at 12 p.m.
