DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 21, 2022) – The Mercy College women's basketball team plays at University of Bridgeport on Tuesday, November 22nd at 5 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Tuesday, November 22nd 5 p.m.
Records: Mercy (2-2), Bridgeport (3-1)
Location: Bridgeport, Conn.
Last Meeting vs. Bridgeport
Bridgeport earned a 67-61 win over Mercy on January 30, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 59-44 win over Wilmington on Saturday. The Mavericks were led by graduate student Taysha Bender who had a game-high 20 points and by senior Katie Wall who had 17 points. Wall was named to the ECC Honor Roll last week after leading Mercy in points per game. The Mavericks are looking to beat Bridgeport on the road for the second straight time. Mercy looks to get off to their best start since 2014 when they started 4-1. Wall leads the Mavericks with 13.0 points per game and averages 4.0 rebounds per game. Bender is second on the team with 11.3 points per game and averages 4.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore Kayla Halvorsen is third on the team with 9.3 points per game on 48.3 percent shooting and senior Asha Talib averages 6.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 6.3 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high-tying 6.5 rebounds per game. Mercy enters the 2022-23 season picked fourth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 11-16 last season. The Mavericks recorded their most overall wins and most ECC wins since 1997 and earned 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. Wall was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year after being named First Team All-ECC and First Team All-Met last season. She was named ECC Player of the Week twice 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. Also returning for the Mavericks is Bender who was named Second Team All-ECC and Second Team All-Met last season after averaging 14.3 points per game. Senior Kellie Nudd also returns after averaging 10.4 points per game. Tedesco comes back after leading the Mavericks with 6.0 rebounds per game to go along with 6.0 points per game. Talib averaged 6.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last season and also returns. Lagas will look to graduate student Sara Hopkins who returns after missing last season due to injury. Hopkins averaged 6.8 points and a team-high 5.6 assists per game for Concordia in 2021. During her three-year career at Concordia, she averaged 8.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. Lagas will also look to freshmen Megan Marcotte, Angelina Barrera, Nya Carroll and Kyla Nembach to help get the Mavericks back to the ECC Championship.
Scouting the Purple Knights
Bridgeport is coming off a 62-57 win over Pace on Saturday. The Purple Knights were picked fifth in the CACC North Division Preseason Poll after going 9-15 last season. Bridgeport is in their first season as members of the CACC after being in the ECC. The Purple Knights are led by Amani Melendez who averages a team-high 19.3 points per game on 53.2 percent shooting. Brianna Meekins posts 13.5 points per game and Stephanie McBride is averaging 8.0 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.
Next Game
Mercy plays at Assumption on Sunday, November 27th at 3 p.m.
