WALTHAM, Mass. (Mar. 15, 2024) – Despite a team-high 18 points from junior Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam), the No. 8 seeded Mercy University women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 63-50 decision at No. 1 seeded Bentley University in an NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Regional Quarterfinal matchup on Friday night at the Dana Center.
The Mavericks (20-10) see their season come to an end after making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985. Mercy finishes the season with their most wins since 1985, first appearance in the ECC Championship final, best regular season finish in the ECC in program history and their most ECC wins (12) in school history. The Falcons (27-5) entered the game ranked No. 12 nationally in the WBCA Top 25 poll and No. 8 nationally in the D2CSC Top 25 poll and will face No. 4 seed Jefferson in a Regional Semifinal tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
Mercy was led by Stanavich who had a team-high 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting with six rebounds. Sophomore Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) added nine points and six rebounds and freshman Amani Abuhatab (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) contributed six points and three steals. Senior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) recorded five points and graduate student Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had four points and four rebounds in her final collegiate game. Wall ends her Mercy career as the program's second all-time leading scorer with 1,742 points. Sophomore Megan Marcotte (Enfield, Conn./Enfield) netted four points and sophomore Kyla Nembach (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) and junior Kayla Halvorsen (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) each had two points.
Bentley was led by Ella Thompson who had a game-high 21 points.
Stanavich gave the Mavericks an early 2-0 lead at the 9:44 mark of the first quarter before Bentley scored seven straight points to take 7-2 lead with 8:09 left in the first quarter. The Falcons later held a 9-4 lead with 6:42 remaining in the quarter before Mercy battled back and closed the quarter on a 16-0 run to take a 20-9 lead after a Marcotte layup. The Mavericks headed into the second quarter up, 20-9, on the nationally-ranked Falcons.
Bentley opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run to cut Mercy's lead to three, 20-17, at the 6:33 mark. Stanavich answered with a three-point play to give Mercy a six-point lead, 23-17, with 6:09 left in the half. The Falcons scored the next six points to tie the game at 23-23 with 5:21 on the clock before Barrera connected on a jumper to give the Mavericks a 25-23 lead with 3:31 left in the half. Bentley closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 30-25 lead at halftime.
Two Wall free throws to open the second half got Mercy to within three, 30-27. The Falcons came back on an 11-1 run to increase their lead to 13, 41-28, at the 6:05 mark. The Mavericks did not back down and Stanavich and Marcotte recorded back-to-back baskets to make it 41-32 with 4:58 on the clock. A Stanavich three with 3:28 left in the quarter cut the Bentley lead to eight, 43-35. However, the Falcons scored the final seven points of the quarter to take a 50-35 lead after three quarters.
Stanavich and Barrera scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter to make it 50-39. A Nembach jumper at the 5:21 mark once again got Mercy to within 11, 54-43. A Thompson three gave Bentley a 57-43 lead before Barrera connected on a three-point play to make it 57-46 with 3:36 remaining. Thompson drained another three with 2:26 left to give the Falcons a 60-46 lead and Bentley held on for the 63-50 win.
Mercy shot 42.0 percent (21-of-50) from the floor, 40.0 percent (2-of-5) from downtown and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from the foul line. Bentley shot 41.7 percent (20-of-48) from the floor, 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from downtown and 88.2 percent (15-of-17) from the foul line. Mercy held a 30-27 edge on the glass. Bentley used 21 Mercy turnovers to hold a 26-7 edge in points off turnovers.
