DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 10, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team plays at ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday, January 11th at 5:30 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 11th 5:30 p.m.
Records: Mercy (9-6, 3-2 ECC), St. Thomas Aquinas (11-4, 4-1 ECC)
Location: Sparkill, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas earned a 71-64 win over Mercy on February 2, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 60-46 win over Bloomfield on Sunday for their fourth straight win. The Mavericks were led by senior Katie Wall who had a game-high 15 points and by freshman Angelina Barrera who scored a career-high-tying 12 points. Wall was named to the ECC Honor Roll on Monday and has been named to the Honor Roll three times this season. Wall was also named ECC Defensive Player of the Week on December 19th and has been named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Division II-III Player of the Week Honorable Mention twice. Graduate student Taysha Bender has been named to the ECC Honor Roll twice this season and has also been named Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Division II-III Player of the Week Honorable Mention once. Wall recorded her 1,000th career point against Chestnut Hill on December 6th and Bender netted her 1,000th career point on December 9th against D'Youville. The Mavericks are 4-33 in their last 37 games against St. Thomas Aquinas but have earned a win over the Spartans in each of the last two seasons. Mercy looks to win at St. Thomas Aquinas for the first time since 1985. Mercy looks to start 10-6 for the second straight season. Wall averages a team-high 13.7 points per game with 2.3 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 12.1 points per game and averages 4.7 rebounds per game. The graduate student also averages a team-high 2.0 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 4.8 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 5.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out a team-high 2.9 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 7.4 points and 5.3 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 Spartans
St. Thomas Aquinas earned a 68-59 win over Roberts Wesleyan in their last game on Sunday. The Spartans were picked first in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 14-15 last season overall and 12-6 in ECC play. St. Thomas Aquinas is currently ranked sixth in the D2SIDA East Region Top 10 Poll released on Monday. The Spartans are led by one-time ECC Player and Defensive Player of the Week sophomore Erin Leary who averages a team-high 15.7 points per game with 7.7 rebounds per game and 2.4 assists per game. Two-time ECC Player of the Week sophomore Sarah Ericson is second on the team with 14.1 points per game and leads the team with 9.3 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game and 2.4 steals per game. Junior Karol Jaruseviciute is third on the team with 8.8 points per game and averages 5.9 rebounds per game. One-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week junior Angelique Holguin posts 6.4 points per game and senior Alexa Huertas nets 7.0 points per game.
Next Game
Mercy plays at Molloy on Wednesday, January 18th at 5 p.m.
