DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Dec. 8, 2022) – The Mercy College women's basketball team hosts ECC foes D'Youville University on Friday, December 9th at 5 p.m. and No. 7/13 Daemen University on Sunday, December 11th at 12 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Friday, December 9th 5 p.m.
Records: Mercy (4-5, 1-1 ECC), D'Youville (2-4, 1-1 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Date/Time: Sunday, December 11th 12 p.m.
Records: Mercy (4-5, 1-1 ECC), Daemen (6-0, 2-0 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. D'Youville
D'Youville earned a 63-51 win over Mercy on February 18, 2022.
Last Meeting vs. Daemen
Daemen earned an 81-49 win over Mercy on February 20, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 55-46 loss to Chestnut Hill on Tuesday. The Mavericks were led by senior Katie Wall who had a game-high 14 points and recorded her 1,000th career point. Wall has been named to the ECC Honor Roll twice this season and graduate student Taysha Bender was tabbed to the Honor Roll on Monday. Bender was also named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Division II-III Player of the Week Honorable Mention on Tuesday. Mercy is 1-2 all-time against D'Youville and is 2-16 all-time against Daemen. The Mavericks have dropped 13 straight meetings to Daemen with the last win coming in 2016. Mercy's last win over Daemen at home was in 2014. Wall became the 20th player in program history to record 1,000 career points on Tuesday and leads the Mavericks with 13.0 points per game. Wall also averages 2.6 assists per game and a team-high 2.0 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 10.9 points per game and averages 5.0 rebounds per game. The graduate student is 11 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Sophomore Kayla Halvorsen is fifth on the team with 5.7 points per game on a team-high 47.5 percent shooting and senior Asha Talib averages 6.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 5.0 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out a team-high 3.7 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 8.3 points and 4.9 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. 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 Saints
D'Youville is coming off a 55-52 loss to Molloy on Sunday. The Saints were picked ninth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 15-12 overall and 7-11 in ECC play last season. D'Youville ranks eighth in the ECC with 49.5 points per game. Leading the Saints is junior Brianne Moxley who averages a team-high 11.3 points per game with 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Junior Stella Mollica is second on the team with 9.5 points per game and leads the team with 3.7 assists per game. One-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week junior Anna Jankovic leads the ECC with 11.4 rebounds per game and is third on the team with 8.6 points per game.
Scouting the Wildcats
Daemen earned a 61-43 win over Queens on Sunday for their sixth straight win to open the season. The Wildcats will play at St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday before playing at Mercy on Sunday. Daemen was picked second in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 22-5 overall and 16-1 in ECC play last season. Last season, Daemen won their second ECC Championship in three seasons and advanced to the final of the NCAA East Regional. The Wildcats are ranked No. 7 nationally in the D2SIDA Top 25 Poll and No. 13 nationally in the WBCA Top 25 Poll. Daemen is also ranked No. 1 in the D2SIDA East Region Poll. The Wildcats are led by one-time ECC Player of the Week graduate student Paige Emborsky who averages a team-high 13.8 points per game on 62.2 percent shooting with 4.5 rebounds per game. The guard shoots a blistering 70.4 percent from downtown with 3.2 made threes per game. Junior Alahna Paige is second on the team with 9.2 points per game and junior Natalie Angeletti is third on the team with 7.5 points per game. Angeletti also leads the team with 4.8 rebounds per game and senior Mickayla Ivy dishes out a team-high 2.5 assists per game.
Next Game
Mercy hosts Goldey-Beacom on Sunday, December 18th at 2 p.m.
