DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 1, 2023) – Despite senior Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and sophomore Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) scoring in double figures, the No. 3 seeded Mercy College women's basketball team dropped a 57-52 decision to No. 6 seeded Queens College in an East Coast Conference (ECC) Women's Basketball Championship First Round matchup on Wednesday night at the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center.
The Mavericks (17-10) fall to the Knights (9-19) for the first time this season and Mercy falls in their first-ever ECC Championship home game. Mercy ends their season with their most wins since 1989 and their highest winning percentage since 1986. The Mavericks third-place finish in the ECC standings is the highest in program history and their 11 ECC wins are the most since 1997. Queens advances to Saturday's semifinal where they will face St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Daemen.
Wall had a team-high 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Stanavich had 11 points and five rebounds. Senior Asha Talib (Allentown, Pa./University of Bridgeport) had nine points and five rebounds and freshman Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) had eight points and six rebounds. Graduate student Sara Hopkins (Mountain Top, Pa./Concordia College) netted five points and senior Kellie Nudd (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) chipped in four points. Junior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) had two points and four rebounds.
Queens was led by Chelsea Reeves who had a game-high 17 points.
The Knights opened the game on an 8-2 run to take an 8-2 lead with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Two Wall free throws made it 8-4 before Queens scored the next eight points to take their largest lead of the game, 16-4, with 2:24 on the clock. Nudd recorded the Mavericks first field goal at the 1:41 mark to make it 16-6 and Wall ended the quarter with a three to cut Queens lead to seven, 16-9, after one quarter.
A Brianna Davis layup to start the second quarter gave Queens an 18-9 lead. Back-to-back baskets from Stanavich made it 18-13 with 7:32 left in the half. A Kendra McPeek layup gave the Knights a 20-13 lead, but Mercy would close the half on an 8-3 run, finished off by a Stanavich layup, to head into halftime down just two, 23-21.
A Barrera three-point play at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game, 26-25. A Stanavich jumper with 4:33 on the clock once again gave Mercy a one-point lead, 30-29. The Knights rallied with a 7-2 spurt to take the lead back at 36-32 with 3:15 left in the quarter. Mercy ended the quarter with four straight points to head into the fourth quarter tied at 36-36.
Queens began the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 49-38 lead with 6:36 left in the game. A Talib three-point play and Barrera layup made it 49-43 with 5:12 remaining. Reeves increased the lead back to eight at the 4:06 mark before Mercy scored the next six points, capped off by a Nudd jumper, to get within two, 51-49, with 1:58 left. Gianna Henriques went 1-of-2 from the line for the Knights to make it 52-49 before Stanavich went 1-of-2 from the stripe to make it 52-50 with 1:06 left. Reeves went 2-of-2 from the line with 37 seconds left to give the Knights a 54-50 lead. Talib would go 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it 54-52 with 29 seconds on the clock. Reeves went 2-of-2 again from the line to make it 56-52 with 17 seconds left. Mercy would be unable to score again and Henriques went 1-of-2 from the line again to make it 57-52, giving Queens the first round win.
Mercy shot 34.0 percent (17-of-50) from the field, 11.1 percent (1-of-9) from downtown and 85.0 percent (17-of-20) from the foul line. Queens shot 50.0 percent (24-of-48) from the field, 66.7 percent (2-of-3) from beyond the arc and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 34-28 edge on the glass.
