SPARKILL, N.Y. (Feb. 17, 2021) – Despite a team-high 15 points from sophomore Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), the Mercy College women's basketball team dropped a 63-46 decision to ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday night at Aquinas Hall Gym.

The Mavericks (0-3, 0-3 ECC) have dropped three straight games, while the Spartans (3-4, 2-2 ECC) have won two games in a row.

Wall went 5-for-11 from the floor and had a team-high five assists and six rebounds. Junior Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) netted 11 points and sophomore Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) added eight points. Freshman Jamie Waldron (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) contributed a career-high eight points and four rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.

St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Alexa Huertas who had a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Spartans opened the game with a 7-3 lead at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter. Mercy responded with a 6-0 run, capped off by a Wall three, which put the Mavericks up 9-7 with 3:04 left in the quarter. The Spartans came back on a 7-2 run to take a 14-11 lead with 1:07 on the clock. Bender drained a three with 33 seconds left to tie the game up at 14-14 after one quarter.

The hosts started the second quarter on a 7-2 spurt to take a 21-16 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half. Mercy followed with four straight points, finished off by a Waldron layup, which made it 21-20 in favor of the Spartans. St. Thomas Aquinas built the lead back to four, 27-23, following a Huertas three but back-to-back baskets from Nudd and sophomore Briana Barnard (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) netted the game up at 27-27 with two minutes left in the period. The Spartans scored the final four points of the quarter to head into halftime up, 31-27.

St. Thomas Aquinas began the third quarter on a 14-0 run to build a 45-27 lead with 3:32 left in the frame. The Spartans later increased the lead to 19, 49-30, before Mercy ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to head into the fourth quarter down, 49-36.

The Mavericks started the fourth quarter on an 8-1 run, capped off by a Waldron layup, which cut the Spartan lead to single digits at 50-44 with 5:29 left. St. Thomas Aquinas would follow with a 9-0 run to put the lead back to 15, 59-44, with two minutes remaining and held on for the victory.

Mercy shot 30.9 percent (17-for-55) from the floor, 27.8 percent (5-for-18) from beyond the arc and 77.8 percent (7-for-9) from the foul line. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 38.6 percent (22-for-57) from the field, 43.8 percent (7-for-16) from downtown and 66.7 percent (12-for-18) from the charity stripe. The Spartans held a 45-33 edge on the glass.

Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, February 20th when they host Daemen at 1 p.m.