DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 15, 2022) – Powered by a combined 54 points from junior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and senior Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding), the Mercy College women's basketball team earned a 77-64 win over ECC foe University of the District of Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Victory Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (8-6, 6-0 ECC) have won five games in a row and are now 6-0 in ECC play for the first time. Mercy is off to their best 14-game start since the 1992-93 season when they also started 8-6. The Firebirds (7-8, 3-3 ECC) fall to .500 in ECC play.
Wall had a career-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting with eight assists and five rebounds. Bender had a career-high 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting with five rebounds and sophomore Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) had nine points and seven rebounds. Junior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) had seven points and a team-high nine rebounds and junior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) had seven points and seven rebounds.
UDC was led by Destiny Ryles who had a team-high 21 points.
Mercy jumped out to a 12-0 lead with 6:36 left in the first quarter after two Wall free throws. UDC followed with an 8-2 run to cut Mercy's lead to 14-8 with 3:44 on the clock. The Firebirds later cut the Mavericks lead to four, 16-12, before Mercy ended the quarter with three straight points to take a 19-12 lead after one quarter.
The Mavericks opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run, finished off by a Bender free throw, to take a 24-12 lead under a minute into the quarter. UDC cut the deficit to nine, 26-17, following a Kaila Pruitt three at the 8:23 mark. Mercy stormed back on a 6-0 run, capped off by a Tedesco layup, to take a 32-17 lead with five minutes left in the half. UDC later made it a 10-point game, 39-29, before two Wall free throws gave Mercy a 41-29 lead at halftime.
UDC scored the first two points of the second half to get within 10, 41-31. The Mavericks responded with a 13-2 run, finished off by a Wall three, to increase the lead to 21, 54-33, with 5:10 left in the quarter. Mercy scored the final five points of the quarter to build their lead to a game-high 25 points, 68-43, at the end of the quarter.
The Firebirds outscored the Mavericks 21-9 in the fourth quarter but could not get closer than 13 points and Mercy came away with the win.
Mercy shot 38.8 percent (26-of-67) from the floor, 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from downtown and 65.4 percent (17-of-26) from the foul line. UDC shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the field, 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from beyond the arc and 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 44-40 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, January 19th when they host Queens at 5 p.m.
