DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 7, 2023) – The Mercy College women's basketball team hosts ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday, February 8th at 5 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 8th 5 p.m.
Records: Mercy (14-7, 8-3 ECC), St. Thomas Aquinas (17-5, 9-2 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. St. Thomas Aquinas
Mercy earned a 64-57 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on January 11, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 76-68 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday. The win was the Mavericks first-ever win at Roberts Wesleyan. Graduate student Taysha Bender had a game-high-tying 18 points, senior Katie Wall had 17 points and freshman Angelina Barrera netted a career-high 17 points. Barrera was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll on Monday for the second straight week. 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 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 5-33 in their last 38 meetings against the Spartans but are 3-2 in the last five meetings. With a win, the Mavericks would be off to their best 22-game start since the 1985-86 season. 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 and have posted their first winning record in the regular season since the 1996-97 season. Mercy looks to sweep the season series with the Spartans for the first time since the 1975-76 season. Wall averages a team-high 13.8 points per game with 2.7 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. Bender is second on the team with 11.0 points per game and averages 4.0 rebounds per game. The graduate student also averages a team-high-tying 1.9 steals per game. Senior Asha Talib averages 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich is posting a career-high 5.0 points per game. Junior Maria Tedesco averages a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game and freshman Angelina Barrera is netting 6.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Graduate student Sara Hopkins dishes out 2.4 assists per game and senior Kellie Nudd posts 7.5 points and 5.1 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 Spartans
St. Thomas Aquinas earned a 78-44 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Wednesday to extend their winning streak to six games. The Spartans last loss came to Mercy on January 11th. The Spartans were picked first in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 14-15 last season overall and 12-6 in ECC play. St. Thomas Aquinas is currently ranked seventh in the D2SIDA East Region Top 10 Poll released on Monday. The Spartans are led by two-time ECC Player of the Week and three-time Defensive Player of the Week Erin Leary who averages a team-high 15.0 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting with 7.7 rebounds per game. Two-time ECC Player of the Week Sarah Ericson is second on the team with 12.7 points per game and averages a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game. Karol Jaruseviciute is third on the team with 7.8 points per game and Alexa Huertas is fourth with 7.5 points per game.
Next Game
Mercy will play at D'Youville on Friday, February 17th at 6 p.m.
