Mercy Women's Basketball Falls to STAC 71-60

The Mercy College women’s basketball team ended home portion of the first semester with a 71-60 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday, before 188 fans. STAC improves to 8-3, including a perfect 4-0 mark in the East Coast Conference. Mercy falls to 2-7 overall, and 0-5 ECC.

The first half saw back-and-forth action, with both teams making big shots. An Ann Butehorn (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) steal led to a Simone Williams (Waldorf, Md./Lackey) layup with 8:33 remaining, giving Mercy a five point lead at 18-13. STAC responded, and took its own five-point lead just four minutes later on a three-pointer by Shpresa Liharevic. Mercy cut the lead back to just one with 1:06 to go, when junior Talia Beaulieu (Waldorf, Md./McDonough) hit a jumper. STAC’s Briana Sloper responded with her own basket with 45 seconds remaining, and the score stood at 33-30 at the half.

In the second half, STAC opened on a 4-0 run to extend the lead to seven points. Minutes later, the lead was up to twelve. The Spartans turned up the defensive pressure, forcing 16 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.

For the game, Mercy committed 29 turnovers, which led directly to 34 STAC points.

Sloper led STAC with 20 points, and eleven rebounds, recording the game’s sole double-double. Liharevic led all scorers with 24 points.

For the Mavericks, Simone Williams led the way with 17 points. Beaulieu chipped in nine.

The Mavericks have one game remaining before we flip the calendar, playing at Post University on December 29.