DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 24, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team hosts ECC foe College of Staten Island on Wednesday, January 25th at 5 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 25th 5 p.m.
Records: Mercy (12-6, 6-2 ECC), Staten Island (7-11, 3-5 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Staten Island
Staten Island earned a 71-67 win over Mercy on November 30, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 50-48 win over Queens on Saturday. The Mavericks were led by senior Katie Wall who had a team-high 15 points and by senior Asha Talib who had eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Mavericks are ranked in a tie for 10th in this week's D2SIDA East Region Top 10 poll. Mercy is ranked in the top 10 of the poll for the first time in program history with the poll dating back to the 2014-15 season. Wall was named to the ECC Honor Roll on Monday and has been named to the Honor Roll five 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 three times 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 2-1 all-time against Staten Island. With a win, the Mavericks would be off to their best 19-game start since the 1985-86 season when they started 15-4. Mercy has now recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. With a win, Mercy would have their most wins in a season since the 1996-97 season when they had 13. With a win, the Mavericks would have an eight-game winning streak which would be their longest winning streak since the 1984-85 season. Wall averages a team-high 14.3 points per game with 2.6 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 11.2 points per game and averages 4.1 rebounds per game. The graduate student also averages a team-high 2.1 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 4.5 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 5.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out a team-high 2.6 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 7.7 points and 5.0 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 Dolphins
Staten Island earned a 59-56 win at Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday for their second straight win. The Dolphins were picked eighth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 6-20 overall and 4-14 in ECC play last season. Staten Island is led by this week's ECC Co-Player of the Week and one-time Defensive Player of the Week Jenalyse Alarcon who averages a team-high 11.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 1.4 steals per game on a team-best 52.6 percent shooting. Ashley Lambert is second on the team with 9.2 points per game on a team-high 27 threes. Kaia Johnson nets 6.9 points per game and dishes out a team-high 2.8 assists per game. Kyra Rose posts 6.8 points per game and is second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per game.
Next Game
Mercy will play at District of Columbia on Saturday, January 28th at 1 p.m.
