DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Dec. 1, 2022) – The Mercy College women's basketball team hosts ECC foe University of the District of Columbia on Saturday, December 3rd at 12 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, December 3rd 12 p.m.
Records: Mercy (3-4, 0-1 ECC), Dist. Columbia (4-3, 1-0 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Dist. Columbia
UDC earned a 65-51 win over Mercy on February 26, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 71-67 loss to Staten Island on Wednesday. The Mavericks were led by senior Asha Talib who had a team-high 15 points and by graduate student Sara Hopkins who had 13 points. Senior Kellie Nudd netted 11 points and graduate student Taysha Bender added 10 points. Senior Katie Wall was named to the ECC Honor Roll for the second time this season on Monday. The Mavericks are off to their best start since 2019. Mercy is 5-16 in their last 21 meetings against UDC and are looking to defeat the Firebirds in Dobbs Ferry for the second straight year. Wall leads the Mavericks with 13.1 points per game. Wall also averages 2.7 assists per game and a team-high 2.3 steals per game. The senior is currently 25 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Bender is second on the team with 8.6 points per game and averages 4.6 rebounds per game. The graduate student is 49 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Sophomore Kayla Halvorsen is fourth on the team with 6.6 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting and Talib averages 7.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 5.0 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 5.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Hopkins dishes out a team-high 3.7 assists per game and Nudd posts 7.0 points and 5.2 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 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, Barrera, Nya Carroll and Kyla Nembach to help get the Mavericks back to the ECC Championship.
Scouting the Firebirds
UDC is coming off a 68-58 win over regionally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday. The Firebirds enter Saturday's game on a two-game winning streak. UDC was picked third in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 13-15 overall last season and 9-9 in ECC play. The Firebirds are led by one-time ECC Player of the Week sophomore Destiny Ryles who averages a team-high 18.6 points, 4.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game. One-time ECC Player of the Week junior Latavia Jackson is second on the team with 18.4 points per game and averages a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game. Sophomore Shanell Haskins is producing 13.6 points per game and sophomore Kensley Benjamin nets 8.4 points per game.
Next Game
Mercy hosts Chestnut Hill on Tuesday, December 6th at 5 p.m.
