DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 20, 2024) – The Mercy University women's basketball team hosts ECC foe Queens College on Wednesday, February 21st at 7 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 21st 7 p.m.
Records: Mercy (16-8, 9-4 ECC), Queens (7-16, 3-9 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Queens
Mercy earned a 69-60 overtime win at Queens on January 31, 2024.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 50-44 win over first-place on Daemen on Sunday. The Mavericks defeated the Wildcats for the first time since 2016 and snapped Daemen's 23-game home winning streak. Mercy was led by junior Jaclyn Stanavich who had a game-high-tying 20 points and by sophomore Kyla Nembach who added 10 points. 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 ECCPlayer 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, December 11th and February 5th and was named to the ECC Honor Roll on December 4th, January 8th and February 20th. The guard is averaging a team-high 16.7 points per game with 5.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game. The graduate student is third in the ECC 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. Wall recorded her 500th career rebound against Molloy on February 3rd. Stanavich is second on the team with 15.6 points per game and is averaging 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The junior scored a career-high 25 points against Columbus State on December 16th. Sophomore Angelina Barrera was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week on January 8th and named to the ECC Honor Roll on January 29th and is third on the team with 10.6 points per game and leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game. The sophomore ranks third in the ECC in rebounds per game. Barrera scored a career-high 23 points with 13 rebounds in the win over Caldwell on January 3rd. Tedesco is recording 5.1 rebounds per game and 1.8 assists per game to go along with 5.6 points per game. Sophomore Kyla Nembach has scored in double figures in five of her last eight games. Barrera and Stanavich were named to the ECC Honor Roll on November 20th and Stanavich has been named to the Honor Roll 10 times with the most recent time coming on February 20th. The Mavericks have recorded double-digit wins in three straight seasons for the first time since they had six straight seasons of 10 or more wins from 1987-93. Mercy has secured their fourth straight ECC Tournament berth. The Mavericks are 11-37 all-time against Queens but have won five of the last seven meetings. Mercy is receiving votes in the latest D2CSC East Region Top 10 Poll.
Scouting the Knights
Queens is coming off an 87-74 win at Roberts Wesleyan on Friday. The Knights were picked sixth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 9-20 last season. Queens is led by two-time ECC Player of the Week and two-time Defensive Player of the Week Brianna Davis who averages a team-high 15.1 points per game with a team-high 2.5 steals per game. Nine-time ECC Rookie of the Week Nkiru Awaka is second on the team with 12.4 points per game and leads the team with 9.2 rebounds per game. Three-time ECC Rookie of the Week Jalea Abrams nets 11.9 points per game and Jordis Tautalatasi dishes out a team-high-tying 2.5 assists per game. Amiyah Edney-Holmes has averaged 15.3 points per game in six games this season.
Next Game
Mercy plays at Molloy on Saturday, February 24th at 12 p.m.
