AMHERST, N.Y. – Powered by a game-high 25 points from junior Jaclyn Stanavich (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam), the No. 2 seeded Mercy University women's basketball team overcame a 19-point deficit to advance to the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship Final for the first time following a 59-48 win over No. 3 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (20-8) earn their first postseason win since 1992 and will play in the Final for the first time in program history. Mercy has now won 10 games in a row, their longest streak since 1985 and have their first 20-win season since the 1984-85 season. The Spartans (18-12) fell to Mercy for the second time in a week. Mercy will play at No. 1 seed Daemen in the Final tomorrow at 12 p.m. looking for their first ECC Championship.
Mercy was led by Stanavich who had a career-high-tying 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting with six rebounds in 40 minutes. Graduate student Katie Wall (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Wall set a school record with her 118th career game played, surpassing the previous record of 117 set by Noreen Annunziata and Stacey Gillespie in 1986. Sophomore Angelina Barrera (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) added eight points and five rebounds and sophomores Kyla Nembach (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) and Megan Marcotte (Enfield, Conn./Enfield) each had four points. Freshman Amani Abuhatab (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) netted three points.
STAC was led by Erin Leary who had a team-high 16 points.
The Spartans jumped out to an 11-0 lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter. A Stanavich jumper at the 5:48 mark got the Mavericks on the scoreboard. STAC closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 21-4 lead after the first quarter.
A Leary layup with 8:32 left in the second quarter gave the Spartans a game-high 19-point lead, 23-4. A Wall three started a 7-0 run that was capped off by four points from Stanavich, making it 23-11 with 5:45 remaining in the half. A Sarah Ericson jumper made it 25-11, but Mercy ended the half on a 5-1 run, finished off by an Abuhatab three, to head into halftime down 10, 26-16.
Mercy opened the second half on a 7-0 run, capped off by a Stanavich three-point play to make it 26-23 at the 5:35 mark. Two Trinity Cheatom free throws got the Spartans on the scoreboard for the first time in the quarter with 4:47 on the clock, making it 28-23. Mercy closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, finished off by two Nembach free throws, to take their first lead of the game, 31-30, at the end of the third quarter. Mercy held the Spartans to just four points in the quarter and 7 percent shooting from the floor.
The Mavericks carried their momentum over to the fourth quarter, scoring the first six points of the quarter to take a 37-30 lead with 7:23 left after two Barrera free throws. STAC came back on a 5-2 spurt to cut the Mercy lead to four, 39-35, with 6:04 remaining. Back-to-back baskets from Stanavich and Marcotte increased the lead to eight, 43-35, with 5:14 on the clock. A Leary jumper with 2:34 left got the Spartans to within four, 47-43. However, a Stanavich jumper and Wall three from well behind the line gave the Mavericks a 52-43 advantage with 1:17 remaining. STAC scored three straight points to make it 52-46 before Wall went 1-of-2 from the line to make it 53-46 with 49 seconds left.
Nembach came up with a steal and Stanavich was fouled and went 2-of-2 from the line to give Mercy a 55-46 lead with 41 seconds on the clock. Stanavich later gave the Mavericks a 57-46 lead following a layup after an offensive rebound on a missed free throw with 30 seconds left. Ericson scored with 25 seconds left to make it 57-48, but Wall went 2-of-2 from the line to increase the lead back to 11, 59-48, with 23 seconds left. Mercy held on for the win and earned their first-ever trip to the Final.
Mercy shot 42.6 percent (20-of-47) from the floor, 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from downtown and 84.2 percent (16-of-19) from the foul line. STAC shot 30.0 percent (18-of-60) from the field, 4.8 percent (1-of-21) from beyond the arc and 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the charity stripe. STAC held a 38-33 edge on the glass.
Head Coach Scott Lagas and the Mavericks play at top seed Daemen in the ECC Championship Final tomorrow at 12 p.m.