SPARKILL, N.Y. (Jan. 11, 2023) – Powered by a game-high 23 points from senior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and the go-ahead basket from junior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) with 38 seconds left, the Mercy College women's basketball team earned a 64-57 win over first-place and regionally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday night at Aquinas Hall Gym. The win is the Mavericks first win at St. Thomas Aquinas since 1985.

The Mavericks (10-6, 4-2 ECC) have won five games in a row and start 10-6 for the second straight season. Mercy defeats the ECC preseason favorite Spartans (11-5, 4-2 ECC) who were ranked sixth in the East Region according to the D2SIDA poll entering tonight's game. The Mavericks have now recorded double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. 

Wall had a game-high 23 points with a team-high eight rebounds and a game-high four assists. Graduate student Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) had 12 points and a game-high five steals. Senior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) netted eight points and senior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) recorded seven points and five rebounds. Sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) produced six points and Tedesco had two points and four rebounds. Freshman Angelina Barrera (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) contributed four points and three rebounds and sophomore Kayla Halvorsen (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) had two points.

St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Sarah Ericson who had a team-high 14 points.

Mercy jumped out to a 14-9 lead with 4:19 left in the first quarter after a Wall three. A Talib layup at the 1:44 mark gave the Mavericks a 16-11 lead before an Erin Leary layup at the buzzer cut Mercy's lead to three, 16-13, after the first quarter.

The Spartans tied the game up at 16-16 before Mercy rallied with a 15-4 run to take their largest lead of the game, 31-20, after a Talib jumper with 3:40 left in the half. St. Thomas Aquinas scored the final five points of the half to head into halftime down, 31-25.

A pair of Nudd free throws to open the third quarter gave Mercy a 33-25 lead at the 8:05 mark. The Spartans battled back with a 13-2 run to take a 38-35 lead with 3:52 remaining in the quarter. Wall drained two free throws to make it 38-37 before the Spartans scored the next five points to take a 43-37 lead with 2:42 on the clock. Two free throws from Barrera and Talib made it 43-41 before two Spartan free throws made it 45-41 with 58 seconds left in the quarter. An Ericson jumper gave St. Thomas Aquinas a 47-42 lead after three quarters.

The Spartans looked to be pulling away from the Mavericks, but Mercy had other ideas and opened the fourth quarter with five straight Bender points to tie the game at 47-47 with nine minutes left. The Spartans regained the lead at 50-49 before Wall drained a jumper to put the Mavericks up 51-50 with 6:48 left. A Nudd three at the 5:23 mark increased the Mavericks lead to four, 54-50. St. Thomas Aquinas later cut the deficit to two, 56-54, after a Trinity Cheatom jumper with 2:33 left to play. A free throw from Julia Reggio and two free throws from Ericson gave the Spartans a 57-56 lead with 53 seconds left. After both teams called timeouts, Wall missed a jumper and Tedesco got the offensive rebounds and finished the putback to put the Mavericks back up, 58-57, with 38 seconds left. After a Spartan timeout, Mercy's defense forced a St. Thomas Aquinas turnover on a five-second violation to get the ball back. After four Spartan fouls, Nudd made two free throws to make it 60-57. An Ericson attempt to tie the game would not fall and Mercy got the ensuing rebound with 20 seconds left. Wall drew a foul on the next Maverick possession and went 2-of-2 from the line to put Mercy up, 62-57, with 14 seconds left. The Mercy defense forced another missed Spartan three and Halvorsen went 2-of-2 from the line to finish off the Mavericks first win at St. Thomas Aquinas since 1985.

Mercy shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the floor, 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from downtown and 95.2 percent (20-of-21) from the foul line. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the field, 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from beyond the arc and 80.0 percent (12-of-15) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 40-37 edge on the glass.

Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, January 18th when they play at Molloy at 5 p.m.