DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 27, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team plays at ECC foe University of the District of Columbia on Saturday, January 28th at 1 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, January 28th 1 p.m.
Records: Mercy (13-6, 7-2 ECC), Dist. Columbia (10-10, 5-4 ECC)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Last Meeting vs. Dist. Columbia
Mercy earned an 84-75 win over UDC on December 3, 2022.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 51-36 win over Staten Island on Wednesday. The Mavericks were led by freshman Angelina Barrera who had a career-high 14 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Kellie Nudd added 11 points. 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 6-16 in their last 22 meetings against the Firebirds and look to sweep the season series for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Mercy looks for their first win at UDC since 2017. With a win, the Mavericks would be off to their best 20-game start since the 1985-86 season when they started 15-5. 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 1988-89 season when they had 17. With a win, the Mavericks would have a nine-game winning streak which would be their longest winning streak since the 1984-85 season. Wall averages a team-high 13.7 points per game with 2.8 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 10.9 points per game and averages 4.1 rebounds per game. The graduate student also averages a team-high 2.0 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 4.7 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out 2.4 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 7.9 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 Firebirds
UDC dropped a 62-53 decision to St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday. The Firebirds were picked third in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 13-15 overall and 9-9 in ECC play last season. UDC is led by two-time ECC Player of the Week Latavia Jackson who leads the ECC with 17.1 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting with 7.6 rebounds per game and 1.7 steals per game. One-time ECC Player of the Week Destiny Ryles is second in the ECC with 16.2 points per game and leads the team with 4.2 assists and 2.8 steals per game. Shanell Haskins posts 9.8 points per game and one-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week Tori Williams nets 8.1 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game.
Next Game
Mercy will play at Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday, February 4th at 2 p.m.
