DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 2, 2024) – Powered by a combined 36 points from graduate student Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and junior Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam), the Mercy University women's basketball team earned a 57-52 Senior Day win over ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon at the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center.

In a ceremony prior to the game Wall and senior Maria Tedesco (Ocean Township, N.J./St. Rose) were recognized for their contributions to the program.

The Mavericks (19-8, 12-4 ECC) have won nine games in a row for the first time since 1985 and defeat the Spartans (17-11, 11-5 ECC) for the third straight time. The Mavericks 12 ECC wins this season are a school record. Mercy finishes second in the ECC standings and has secured a first-round bye in next week's ECC Women's Basketball Championship for the first time in program history. The second-place finish for the Mavericks is the highest finish in ECC play in school history and Mercy will face the winner of No. 3 STAC/No. 6 D'Youville in a Semifinal matchup on Saturday, March 9th at Daemen University.

Mercy was led by Stanavich who had a team-high 19 points with four rebounds and by Wall who had 17 points with seven steals, five assists and six rebounds. Sophomore Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) had six points and two blocks and sophomore Megan Marcotte (Enfield, Conn./Enfield) had six points. Sophomore Kyla Nembach (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) had five points and eight rebounds and Tedesco had two points and four rebounds. Freshman Molly Boek (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) added two points.

St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Sarah Ericson who had a game-high 25 points.

The Spartans held a 9-8 lead with 5:09 left in the first quarter before Mercy scored the next six points, finished off by a Stanavich jumper, to take a 14-9 lead with 2:08 remaining in the quarter. A late Ericson jumper cut the Mavericks lead to three, 14-11, after one quarter.

An Ericson three to open the second quarter tied the game at 14-14. Back-to-back layups from Wall and Marcotte and a Wall free throw gave Mercy a 19-14 lead at the 3:57 mark. St. Thomas Aquinas ended the half on a 7-2 run to send the teams into halftime tied at 21-21.

A Nembach jumper and two Stanavich free throws gave Mercy a 25-21 lead at the 8:02 mark of the third quarter. The Spartans rallied with a 6-2 spurt to tie the game again at 27-27 with 3:30 on the clock. The Mavericks stormed back with nine straight points, capped off by a Marcotte jumper, to take a 36-27 lead with 24 seconds on the clock. Two Trinity Cheatom free throws cut Mercy's lead to 36-29 after three quarters.

The Spartans scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to cut Mercy's lead to one, 36-35, with 9:08 left. Wall made it 38-35 before an Erin Leary layup once again made it a one-point game, 38-37. The Mavericks battled and went on a 10-0 run, finished off by a Stanavich layup, at the 3:07 mark to take their largest lead of the game, 48-37. The Spartans went on a 9-1 run to cut the Mercy lead to three, 49-46, with 1:02 left. Stanavich went 4-of-4 from the foul line and Nembach went 2-of-4 from the line to give Mercy a 55-46 lead with 27 seconds left. A Cheatom three with seven seconds left cut the Mavericks lead to four, 56-52, but Wall went 1-of-2 from the line, giving Mercy the 57-52 win.

Mercy shot 36.2 percent (21-of-58) from the floor, 6.7 percent (1-of-15) from downtown and 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the foul line. St. Thomas Aquinas shot 32.7 percent (18-of-55) from the field, 28.1 percent (9-of-32) from beyond the arc and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the charity stripe. Mercy held a 41-35 edge on the glass.

Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 9th when they face the winner of No. 3 STAC/No. 6 D'Youville in an ECC Championship Semifinal at Daemen.