DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 26, 2022) – Mercy College women's basketball senior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) has been named the East Coast Conference (ECC) Women's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year and the Mavericks have been picked fourth in the ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office earlier today. The top six teams at the end of the season qualify for the ECC Championship.

Wall is named Preseason Player of the Year for the first time after being named First Team All-ECC and First Team All-Met last season. The senior was named ECC Player of the Week twice last season after averaging a team-high 16.0 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The guard ranked fourth in the ECC in points per game and second in assists and steals per game.

St. Thomas Aquinas received two of nine first place votes to top the poll and defending ECC Champion Daemen was picked second.

The Mavericks are picked fourth in the poll after going 11-16 last season, recording their most overall wins and most ECC wins since 1997 and the program's first ECC Championship berth without every team making it since 2009. Mercy looks to qualify for the ECC Championship for the third straight year and win their first-ever ECC Championship. The fourth-place ranking is the highest in five seasons under Head Coach Scott Lagas.

Lagas and the Mavericks return 11 student-athletes from last year's team led by Wall. Graduate student Taysha Bender also returns after being named Second Team All-ECC and Second Team All-Met last season. Senior Kellie Nudd returns after averaging 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season.

Lagas and the Mavericks open their 2022-23 season on Friday, November 11th when they face American International at 5 p.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas.