DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Dec. 8, 2023) – The Mercy University women's basketball team plays at ECC foe University of the District of Columbia on Saturday, December 9th at 1 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, December 9th 1 p.m.
Records: Mercy (7-2, 1-1 ECC), Dist. Columbia (9-0, 3-0 ECC)
Location: Washington, D.C.
Last Meeting vs. Dist. Columbia
UDC earned an 86-65 win over Mercy on January 28, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
The Mavericks are coming off a 60-51 win over Staten Island on Wednesday. Mercy was led by sophomore Angelina Barrera who had a game-high 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Senior Maria Tedesco added a season-high 13 points and graduate student Katie Wall had 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and eight assists. Mercy enters the 2023-24 season picked fourth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 17-10 last season. The Mavericks recorded their most overall wins in a season since 1989 and had their most ECC wins since 1997. Mercy's third-place finish in the ECC standings was the highest in program history. The Mavericks also had their highest winning percentage since 1986 and hosted their first-ever ECC Championship Game. Mercy looks to qualify for the ECC Championship for the fourth straight year and win their first-ever ECC Championship. Graduate student Katie Wall returns for sixth-year Head Coach Scott Lagas after being named First Team All-ECC and First Team All-Met last season. The guard was named ECC Player of the Week once last season after averaging a team-high 14.0 points per game with 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Wall had a team-high 54 steals and ranked third in the ECC in points per game last season. Also, returning is sophomore Angelina Barrera who was named to the ECC Honor Roll twice last season after averaging 7.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and had a team-high 21 blocks in 26 games. Junior Jaclyn Stanavich also returns after averaging 6.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 24 games a year ago. Senior Maria Tedesco returns after recording 4.2 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds per game. Also returning for Lagas are junior Kayla Halvorsen and sophomores Megan Marcotte and Kyla Nembach. Lagas will also look to freshmen Paige Fourtin, Mary McClintock, Layla Greene, Victoria Pfeffer, Molly Boek, Amani Abuhatab and Grace Lesko to help get the Mavericks back to the ECC Championship. The Mavericks have been led so far by Wall who was named ECC Player of the Week on November 13th and named to the ECC Honor Roll on December 4th and is averaging a team-high 21.0 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting with 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game. The graduate student leads the East Region in points per game and set a new school record with her 193rd career three-pointer against St. Thomas Aquinas on December 2nd. She scored a career-high 40 points in the Mavericks season-opening win over Saint Anselm on November 11th. Stanavich is second on the team with 12.6 points per game and is averaging 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. The junior scored a career-high 21 points against Post on November 29th. Sophomore Angelina Barrera is third on the team with 9.7 points per game and leads the team with 7.9 rebounds per game to go along with 1.3 steals per game. Barrera scored a career-high 21 points in the win over Bloomfield on November 15th. Tedesco is recording 5.8 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game to go along with 5.7 points per game. Halvorsen is netting 4.7 points per game. Barrera and Stanavich were named to the ECC Honor Roll on November 20th and Stanavich was tabbed to the Honor Roll for a second time on November 27th. Mercy is ranked ninth in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region Top 10 Poll. The Mavericks are 6-17 all-time against the Firebirds and are 2-2 in their last four meetings against UDC. Mercy looks to win at UDC for the first time since 2017.
Scouting the Firebirds
UDC is coming off a 66-58 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday. The Firebirds were picked third in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 15-13 last season. UDC is ranked No. 5 in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region Top 10 Poll. The Firebirds are led by one-time ECC Player of the Week Destiny Ryles who is averaging 15.6 points per game with 6.8 rebounds per game and a team-high 6.2 assists per game. One-time ECC Player of the Week Tori Williams averages a team-high 15.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game and Latavia Jackson nets 12.5 points per game.
Next Game
Mercy plays at Saint Leo on Friday, December 15th at 5 p.m.
