DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Jan. 6, 2023) – Powered by three Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy College women's basketball team earned a 54-46 win over ECC foe Roberts Wesleyan University on Friday night at the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center.
The Mavericks (8-6, 3-2 ECC) have won three games in a row and defeat the Redhawks (2-9, 1-3 ECC) for the second straight year in Dobbs Ferry.
Graduate student Taysha Bender (Glen Burnie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) led the Mavericks with a game-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and senior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) netted 11 points and five rebounds and junior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) had five points and a game-high nine rebounds. Senior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) recorded five points and four rebounds and freshman Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) had three points and six rebounds.
Roberts Wesleyan was led by Grace Galgano who had a team-high 15 points.
Mercy opened the game on a 7-0 run after a Nudd jumper with 6:07 on the clock. Roberts Wesleyan cut the deficit to four, 11-7, with 1:26 left in the opening quarter before a Sara Hopkins (Mountain Top, Pa./Concordia College) layup made it 13-7. A Galgano jumper cut Mercy's lead to 13-9 after one quarter of play.
A three from Bender to open the second quarter made it 16-9 with 7:42 remaining in the half. Back-to-back jumpers from Grace Dow made it 16-13 before Bender followed with two straight buckets of her own to give the Mavericks a 20-13 lead with 5:51 on the clock. The Redhawks scored the next four points to make it 20-17, but a Wall layup gave Mercy a 22-17 lead at halftime.
Mercy began the third quarter on an 8-2 run, capped off by a Talib jumper, to take a 30-19 lead with 7:58 left in the period. An Emily Palmer jumper cut the Mavericks lead to nine, 30-21, before a Barrera free throw and Bender layup put Mercy up 12, 33-21, with 1:47 left in the quarter. The Mavericks headed into the fourth quarter with a 35-23 lead.
Roberts Wesleyan opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to cut Mercy's lead to five, 37-32, with 6:51 remaining. Wall put the Mercy lead back to seven, 39-32, with a pair of free throws. The Redhawks battled back and trimmed the Mavericks lead to just three, 43-40, with 1:59 left. Bender answered with a layup to give Mercy a 45-40 lead. Nudd followed with a three and Talib drained a free throw to give the Mavericks a 49-40 lead with 34 seconds left. Roberts Wesleyan could not get closer than seven points for the remainder of the game, giving Mercy the ECC win.
Mercy shot 32.1 percent (18-of-56) from the floor, 16.7 percent (2-of-12) from downtown and 80.0 percent (16-of-20) from the foul line. Roberts Wesleyan shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the field, 0.0 percent (0-of-10) from beyond the arc and 80.0 percent (8-of-10) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 45-30 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, January 8th when they host Bloomfield at 12 p.m.
