AMHERST, N.Y. (Mar. 10, 2024) - Despite three Mavericks scoring in double figures, the No. 2 seeded Mercy University women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 55-50 decision to No. 1 seeded Daemen University in the East Coast Conference (ECC) Women's Basketball Championship Final on Sunday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (20-9) saw their 10-game winning streak come to an end in their first-ever Final appearance. The Wildcats (20-7) win their third straight ECC Championship. Mercy now awaits a possible NCAA Tournament berth, looking for their first berth since 1985. The selection show is at 10:30 p.m. tonight and can be seen at NCAA.com.
Mercy was led by graduate student Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) who had a team-high 15 points with four steals and by junior Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam) who had 11 points, six rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) had 10 points and six rebounds and sophomore Kyla Nembach (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) netted nine points. Junior Kayla Halvorsen (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) scored three points and freshman Molly Boek (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) contributed two points. Sophomore Megan Marcotte (Enfield, Conn./Enfield) had a game-high nine rebounds and four blocks.
Daemen was led by Alahna Paige who had a game-high 27 points and was named the championship's Most Outstanding Player.
Mercy jumped out to a 7-2 lead following a Wall jumper with 6:43 left in the first quarter. Daemen went on a 5-1 run to cut the Mavericks lead to one, 8-7, before two Stanavich free throws gave Mercy a 10-7 lead with 1:13 on the clock. A Paige jumper cut the Mavericks lead to one, 10-9, after one quarter.
Two Barrera free throws gave Mercy a 12-9 lead at the 9:35 mark of the second quarter. The Wildcats scored the next five points to take a 14-12 lead with 7:16 on the clock. A Stanavich jumper with 3:15 left in the half tied the game at 18-18 before four straight points by the hosts gave Daemen a 22-18 lead with 2:30 remaining in the half. Two Barrera free throws and a Nembach jumper tied the score at 22-22 at halftime.
Back-to-back baskets from Nembach and Barrera to open the third quarter gave Mercy a 26-22 lead at the 7:56 mark. A Paige three capped off a 5-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 27-26 lead with 6:47 on the clock. The Mavericks continued to battle and scored the next eight points to retake the lead at 34-27 after a Boek layup with 3:35 left in the quarter. Daemen closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to send the teams into the fourth quarter tied at 36-36.
A Halvorsen three to open the final quarter gave Mercy a 39-36 lead. Two Wall free throws later gave the Mavericks a 41-37 lead with 8:31 left. Paige drained a three on the next Daemen possession to make it 41-40. Mercy followed with a Stanavich jumper, Wall three and Barrera jumper to take their largest lead of the game, 48-40, with 5:57 left. After a Wildcats timeout, Daemen went on a 12-0 run to take the lead back at 52-48 with 19 seconds left. Two more Barrera free throws made it 52-50 with 12 seconds remaining. Paige then went 2-of-2 from the line to make it 54-50 before Wall missed a three on the other end and Daemen got the rebound with eight seconds left. Paige was fouled again with six seconds on the clock and went 1-of-2 from the line to give the hosts a 55-50 lead. A late three by Nembach would not fall and the Wildcats earned the 55-50 win to earn their third straight ECC Championship.
Mercy shot 32.1 percent (17-of-53) from the floor, 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from downtown and 92.3 percent (12-of-13) from the foul line. Daemen shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) from the field, 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from beyond the arc and 65.0 percent (13-of-20) from the charity stripe. Daemen held a 39-36 edge on the glass.
