ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 10, 2022) – Powered by a team-high-tying 19 points from junior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) and senior Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding), the Mercy College women's basketball team improved to 4-0 in ECC play for the first time since 1990-91 with a 61-57 victory over Molloy College on Monday night at Quealy Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (6-6, 4-0 ECC) have won three games in a row and have their most ECC wins in a season since 2010-11. Mercy defeats the Lions (5-6, 2-2 ECC) for the first time since January 27, 2016.
Nudd had 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting overall and 5-of-7 shooting from downtown. Bender added five rebounds and had 19 points. Junior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) added seven points and a game-high-tying 10 rebounds.
Molloy was led by Gabriella Aspuru who had a game-high 20 points.
The Lions jumped out to a 13-7 lead with 4:38 left in the opening quarter. The Mavericks answered with a 6-0 run, capped off by a Nudd three, to tie the game at 13-13. Molloy followed with five straight points to take an 18-13 lead at the 2:49 mark. Mercy closed the quarter on a 6-0 run, finished off by an Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) layup, to take a 19-18 lead after the first quarter.
Molloy opened the second quarter with three straight points to take a 21-19 lead. Mercy battled back and retook the lead at 25-23 following a Bender three with 6:27 left in the half. Molloy responded with a 10-4 run to take a four-point lead, 33-29, with 53 seconds on the clock. A Tedesco layup cut the Molloy lead to two, 33-31, at halftime.
Mercy came out strong in the third quarter, opening the quarter on an 18-2 run, to take their largest lead of the game, 49-35, with 2:14 left in the quarter. Nudd got the run started with three straight threes for the Mavericks. Mercy went on to outscore the Lions 20-6 in the third quarter, holding them to just 1-of-13 shooting from the floor, to take a 51-39 lead after three quarters.
Molloy started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 51-49, with 5:59 left to play. A Nudd layup gave Mercy a four-point lead and a Jamie Waldron (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) layup with five minutes on the clock gave Mercy a 55-50 lead.
A Maya Thomas jumper made it 55-52 before Nudd drained another three to give Mercy a 58-52 lead with 3:41 remaining. Five straight points from Molloy got the hosts back to within one, 58-57, with 1:59 left. After defensive stands by both teams, Tedesco was fouled with 20 seconds left and went 1-of-1 from the line to give Mercy a 59-57 lead. After a Molloy timeout, Safiyyah Lee missed a go-ahead three point attempt from the left wing with nine seconds left and Nudd got the ensuing rebound. Nudd was fouled with five seconds left and went 2-of-2 from the line to give Mercy a 61-57 lead. The Mavericks would hold on for the victory to move to 4-0 in ECC play for the first time since 1990-91.
Mercy shot 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the floor, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from downtown and 75.0 percent (12-of-16) from the foul line. Molloy shot 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from the field, 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the charity stripe. Molloy held a 40-39 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, January 12th when they play at Staten Island at 5:30 p.m.
