FLUSHING, N.Y. (Feb. 25, 2023) -Powered by a season-high 23 points from senior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy), the Mercy College women's basketball team concluded its regular season with a 66-52 win over ECC foe Queens College on Saturday afternoon at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (17-9, 11-5 ECC) sweep the season series with the Knights (8-19, 5-11 ECC) for the first time since 2012 and end the regular season with their most wins since 1989. Mercy also finishes with their most ECC wins since 1997 and their third-place finish in the ECC standings is the highest finish in program history. The Mavericks have earned the No. 3 seed in the ECC Women's Basketball Championship and will host No. 6 seed Queens College on Wednesday, March 1st at 7 p.m. in a first round matchup.
Nudd had a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting with six rebounds and senior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with a game-high eight assists to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds and freshman Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) added eight points and five rebounds. Graduate student Sara Hopkins (Mountain Top, Pa./Concordia College) had five points and five assists and junior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) had four points. Senior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) and graduate student Brianne Santos (Elmont, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) both added two points.
The score was tied at 2-2 before Mercy closed the quarter on a 22-6 run, capped off by a Nudd three, to take a 24-8 lead after the first quarter.
A three and layup from Nudd to open the second quarter gave Mercy a 29-8 lead with 8:40 left in the half. Queens scored four straight points to make it 29-12 at the 5:48 mark. The Mavericks stormed back with four straight points from Barrera and Stanavich to put the Mavericks up, 33-12, with five minutes left in the half. Mercy later held a 39-18 lead before the Knights scored the final four points of the half to cut the Mavericks lead to 17, 39-22, at halftime.
Queens scored the first four points of the third quarter to make it 39-26 with eight minutes left in the quarter. Two quick buckets from Wall and Stanavich gave the Mavericks a 17-point lead again, 43-26, at the 6:54 mark. A Hopkins jumper with 2:59 on the clock gave Mercy a 53-34 lead and a Nudd three in the final minute of play gave the Mavericks a 20-point lead, 58-38, after three quarters.
A Barrera layup with 5:10 remaining increased the Mavericks lead to a game-high 22 points, 62-40. The Knights would go on a 12-2 run to cut Mercy's lead to 12, 64-52, with 38 seconds left. A Santos jumper with 28 seconds on the clock put the finishing touches on the win for the Mavericks.
Mercy shot a season-high 53.2 percent (25-of-47) from the floor, 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from downtown and 75.0 percent (9-of-12) from the foul line. Queens shot 39.6 percent (21-of-53) from the field, 0.0 percent (0-of-1) from beyond the arc and 83.3 percent (10-of-12) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 31-25 edge on the glass.
