DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 22, 2020) – Powered by a game-high 17 points from senior Destinee Hall (Spring Valley, N.Y./Keystone College), the Mercy College women's basketball team celebrated Senior Day with a 62-57 win over ECC foe Queens College on Saturday afternoon at Victory Hall Sports Center.
In a ceremony prior to the game, Hall, Abigail Collier (Watertown, Conn./Watertown) and Holly Sanders (Chicago, Ill./Simeon Career Academy) were recognized for their contributions to the Mercy College women's basketball program.
The Mavericks (8-18, 2-13 ECC) snap a six-game losing streak and double their win total over last season. Mercy earns their first home win over the Knights (7-18, 4-11 ECC) since February 7, 2015. The Mavericks six home wins are their most in a season since 2008-09 when they had seven.
Hall went 6-for-9 from the floor and had six rebounds. Junior Amber Brown (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) had 14 points and nine rebounds and freshman Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had 13 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had nine points and Collier had five points and seven rebounds.
Queens was led by Tayanee Peay who had a team-high 15 points.
Mercy opened the game with a 9-4 lead after a Wall three at the 5:50 mark of the first quarter. Queens cut the deficit to one, 14-13, with 1:38 on the clock. However, the Mavericks ended the quarter on a 7-2 run, capped off by a Hall three, to take a 21-15 lead after one quarter.
A Bender layup with 5:24 left in the second quarter gave Mercy a 29-21 lead. The Knights followed with a 7-0 run to get within one, 29-28, with 1:32 remaining in the half. Two free throws from Wall gave Mercy a 31-28 lead at halftime.
Queens started the third quarter by cutting the Mercy lead to one, 35-34, with 7:27 on the clock. A Bender three and Wall layup put the lead back to six, 40-34, with 4:04 remaining in the quarter. The Knights made it a three-point game, 42-39, but two free throws from Brown and a layup from freshman Briana Barnard (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) gave the Mavericks a 46-39 lead after three quarters of play.
A Bender layup to open the fourth quarter gave Mercy a nine-point lead, 48-39. Queens followed with four straight points to make it a five-point game, but back-to-back layups from Brown and Bender once again gave Mercy a nine-point lead, 52-43, with 6:26 left.
A Wall layup at the 3:39 mark increased the Mavericks lead to a game-high 11 points, 56-45. Queens responded with an 8-0 run to make it 56-53 with 1:10 left. Hall drew a foul on the next Maverick possession and made both foul shots to put Mercy up, 58-53, with 51 seconds left. The Mavericks defense came up with a stop and Wall drew a foul. The freshman went to the line and went 2-for-2 to put the lead back to seven, 60-53, with 26 seconds left. Wall drained two more free throws and Queens drained a three at the buzzer but it was not enough as Mercy came away with the win.
Mercy shot 40.4 percent (19-for-47) from the floor, 18.8 percent (3-for-16) from downtown and 87.5 percent (21-for-24) from the foul line. Queens shot 37.7 percent (23-for-61) from the field, 28.6 percent (4-for-14) from beyond the arc and 70.0 percent (7-for-10) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 37-33 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks conclude their season when they play at Bridgeport on Saturday, February 29th at 1 p.m.
