DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 25, 2021) – Despite a team-high 14 points from sophomore Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), the Mercy College women's basketball team dropped a 52-44 decision to ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Thursday night at Victory Hall Sports Center.
The Mavericks (1-6, 1-6 ECC) fail to build on their win from last night, while the Spartans (5-6, 5-3 ECC) take the season series from Mercy.
Wall went 5-for-11 from the floor and had three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) had 12 points and a team-high six rebounds and freshman Jamie Waldron (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) netted seven points and five rebounds. Sophomore Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) finished with six points and junior Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had five points.
St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Chanel Brodeur-Muir who had a game-high 17 points.
The Spartans jumped out to an 8-2 lead at the 5:43 mark of the opening quarter. A Waldron layup with 2:23 remaining in the period cut the St. Thomas Aquinas lead to three, 12-9, but the visitors ended the quarter with four straight points to take a 16-9 lead after one quarter.
St. Thomas Aquinas started the second quarter on an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 27-11, with 3:35 remaining before halftime. Wall hit two threes to end the half, sending Mercy into halftime down just 10, 27-17.
Mercy began the third quarter by cutting the deficit to eight, 29-21, with 6:59 left in the quarter. The Spartans rallied and increased the lead back to 14, 39-25, at the 1:18 mark of the third quarter. However, the Mavericks continued to battle and closed out the quarter on a 5-0 spurt to head into the fourth quarter down, 39-30.
The guests put the lead back to 11, 43-32, with 5:36 remaining and looked to be pulling away. The Mavericks had other plans and ensued with a 10-0 run, capped off by a Wall three, which made it 43-42 in favor of the Spartans with 1:50 left to play. The visitors sank two free throws to make it 45-42 before Wall came down on the other end and made a layup to get Mercy back within one, 45-44, with 1:35 on the clock. The Spartans once again went 2-for-2 from the line on their next possession to make it 47-44 and would tack on five more points at the foul line to secure the win.
Mercy shot 28.3 percent (13-for-46) from the floor, 31.6 percent (6-for-19) from downtown and 66.7 percent (12-for-18) from the foul line. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 29.4 percent (15-for-51) from the field, 22.2 percent (2-for-9) from beyond the arc and 76.9 percent (20-for-26) from the charity stripe. The Spartans held a 36-35 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks conclude their regular season when they play at D'Youville on Saturday, February 27th at 3 p.m.
