DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 17, 2021) – Powered by a game-high 23 points and seven assists from junior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), the Mercy College women's basketball team earned an 84-63 win over Felician University in their home opener on Wednesday night at Victory Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (1-2) record their first win of the season and the 21-point win is the largest margin of victory for Mercy since an 83-56 win over New Rochelle on February 14, 2018. The Golden Falcons (0-3) suffer their third straight loss to open the season.
Wall had 23 points on 6-for-11 shooting with seven assists and four steals. Senior Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had 21 points and five steals and junior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) had a double-double by way of 14 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Kayla Halvorsen (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) had a career-high nine points off the bench and freshman Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) had a career-high seven points.
Felician was led by Briana Lee who had a team-high 14 points.
Mercy jumped all over the Golden Falcons right from the start, opening the game on a 13-2 run following a Bender jumper with 5:45 left in the first quarter. A Lee free throw made it 13-3, but the Mavericks followed with eight straight points, capped off by a Bender jumper, to take a 21-3 lead with 2:16 left in the opening quarter. A Felician free throw later made it 23-6, but Mercy finished off the quarter on an 8-0 run, finished off by a Wall layup, to take a 31-6 lead after the first quarter.
Bender opened the second quarter with a layup to put Mercy up, 33-6. A three from Lee got Felician to within, 33-9. The Mavericks followed with a 6-0 run, finished off by a Halvorsen three, which gave Mercy a 30-point lead, 39-9, with 5:19 left in the half. Mercy increased the lead to a game-high 32 points, 43-11, after a Bender jumper with three minutes on the clock. The Mavericks led the rest of the half and headed into halftime with a 49-21 lead.
Mercy increased the lead back to 31, 61-30, following a Talib layup with 4:33 left in the third quarter. Felician ended the quarter on a 13-8 run to cut the deficit to 26, 69-43, entering the fourth quarter.
Felician cut the deficit to 14, 77-63, with 2:23 left, but Mercy ended the game on a 7-0 run to secure the win.
Mercy shot 50.8 percent (32-for-63) from the floor, 31.6 percent (6-for-19) from downtown and 73.7 percent (14-for-19) from the foul line. Felician shot 32.3 percent (20-for-62) from the field, 30.8 percent (8-for-26) from beyond the arc and 68.2 percent (15-for-22) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 42-40 edge on the glass and used 31 Felician turnovers to hold a 36-17 edge in points off turnovers.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, November 20th when they play at Goldey-Beacom at 5 p.m.
