DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 23, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team concludes its regular season at ECC foe Queens College on Saturday, February 25th at 3:30 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, February 25th 3:30 p.m.
Records: Mercy (16-9, 10-5 ECC), Queens (8-18, 5-10 ECC)
Location: Flushing, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Queens
Mercy earned a 50-48 win over Queens on January 21, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 59-48 win over Molloy on Senior Night on Wednesday. The Mavericks were led by graduate student Taysha Bender who had a game-high 12 points. Senior Katie Wall had 11 points and senior Kellie Nudd netted 10 points. Wall was named ECC Player of the Week last Monday and was tabbed Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Division II-III Player of the Week Honorable Mention last Tuesday. Freshman Angelina Barrera has been named to the ECC Honor Roll twice. Wall 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 three times. 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 9-25 in their last 34 meetings against Queens. Mercy looks to sweep the season series with the Knights for the first time since 2012. Mercy has now recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. The Mavericks currently have their most wins in a season since the 1988-89 season when they won 17 games and have posted their first winning record in the regular season since the 1996-97 season. Mercy now has their most ECC wins in a season since 1997 when they had 11 wins. The Mavericks have secured their third straight berth into the ECC Tournament. Mercy currently sits in third place in the ECC standings. The Mavericks need to win on Saturday and have St. Thomas Aquinas lose to Molloy to secure the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. Wall averages a team-high 14.1 points per game with 2.6 assists per game and 2.0 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 1.8 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 5.8 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 6.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out 2.0 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 7.3 points and 4.6 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 Knights
Queens is coming off a 69-46 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday. The Knights were picked seventh in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 4-21 overall and 3-15 in ECC play last season. Queens currently sits in the sixth and final ECC Tournament spot. The Knights are led by two-time ECC Player of the Week Chelsea Reeves who averages a team-high 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Three-time ECC Rookie of the Week Brianna Davis is second on the team with 10.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Raven Pitt nets 8.2 points per game and a team-high 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Khadija Demry posts 8.0 points per game and Aalia Carlson records 8.1 points per game.
Next Game
Mercy will play in the ECC Tournament either Wednesday, March 1st or Saturday, March 4th.
