Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Basketball team opened its East Coast Conference schedule with a 66-57 loss to Mercy College at Victory Gymnasium on Wednesday evening. STAC falls to 1-8, 0-1 ECC on the season while the Mavericks improved to 3-5, 1-0.

How it Happened

• Mercy netted the first points of the game via a three-pointer by Katie Wall, but STAC battled back to tie the game at 5-5 on a Alexa Huertas trey and then went ahead 7-5 on a pair of Julia Reggio free throws, before the hosts went on a 13-8 run to take an 18-15 lead at the end of 10 minutes of play.
• Back and forth action between the teams kept the score close in the second quarter, and even tied at one point (22-22) with just over five and a half minutes left in the stanza. Unfortunately, Mercy went on a 12-0 run to close the half, giving themselves a 34-22 advantage at the break.
• Victoria Kurisko led the Spartan scoring in the opening 20 minutes of action with seven points. Taysha Bender led all scorers in the half with 11 points, followed by teammate Katie Wall with 10 points.
• Mercy built its largest lead of the game (18) in the third quarter and held a 17-point advantage (55-42) through three quarters of play.
• STAC would attempt to chip away at the Mavericks lead, but the closest they would come in the final quarter was seven (64-57) with just 30 seconds left to play.

Top Performances

• Angelique Holguin, Sarah Ericson and Erin Leary finished with 10 points each for STAC.
• Leading the way for Mercy were Katie Wall (17 points), Taysha Bender (15 points) and Kellie Nudd (15 points).
• The host Mavericks held a slight advantage on the boards, 44 to 38.
• St. Thomas Aquinas shot 35.1% from the floor (20-for-57), while Mercy shot 34.5% (20-for-58) on the evening.

Up Next
St. Thomas Aquinas hosts Pace University on front end of a non-conference doubleheader at Aquinas Hall on Sunday, December 12. Tip-off is set for 1pm in Sparkill, followed by the Men's contest against Holy Family University at approximately 3pm.