DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 16, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team plays at ECC foe Molloy University on Wednesday, January 18th at 5 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 18th 5 p.m.
Records: Mercy (10-6, 4-2 ECC), Molloy (3-13, 2-5 ECC)
Location: Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Molloy
Molloy earned a 65-56 win over Mercy on February 12, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 64-57 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday for their fifth straight win. The win was the Mavericks first at STAC since 1985. Mercy was led by senior Katie Wall who scored a game-high 23 points and by junior Maria Tedesco who scored the go-ahead basket with 38 seconds left. The Mavericks are receiving votes in the D2SIDA East Region Top 10 Poll for the first time this season. 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 3-34 in their last 37 meetings against Molloy. Mercy is looking to win at Molloy for the second straight season. With a win, the Mavericks would be off to their best 17-game start since the 1985-86 season when they started 13-4. Mercy has now recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. Wall averages a team-high 14.3 points per game with 2.4 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 12.1 points per game and averages 4.6 rebounds per game. The graduate student also averages a team-high 2.2 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 4.8 points per game. Tedesco averages a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 5.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out a team-high 2.8 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 Lions
Molloy dropped a 58-41 decision to Staten Island on Saturday for their fifth straight loss. The Lions were picked tied for fifth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 17-10 overall and 13-5 in ECC play last season. Molloy is currently led by Trinity Hudson who averages a team-high 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Gianni Domond is second on the team with 8.3 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. Samantha Muller ranks third on the team with 7.8 points per game and leads the team with 1.6 assists per game. One-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week Danielle Hippner leads the Lions with 2.2 blocks per game and Hudson leads the team with 1.6 steals per game.
Next Game
Mercy hosts Queens on Saturday, January 21st at 12 p.m.
