DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – Looking to continue their run against regionally-ranked opponents, Post University Women's Basketball had another tough task on Wednesday night, heading on the road to face Mercy University who entered the day ranked seventh in the D2CSC East Region rankings. A strong first half by graduate forward Taina Pagan with eight points would find the Eagles trailing by only two points, but a big third-quarter run for the Mavericks helped them defeat Post, 66-50.

THE BASICS

Post University 50, Mercy University 66

Post University (2-4)

Mercy University (6-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Pagan would get the scoring started for the Eagles, coming off of her double-double against Southern New Hampshire, to spur a 6-0 stretch for Post to help them jump ahead early, 6-2. Back-to-back threes from graduate guard Katie Wall and sophomore guard Kyla Nembach led to a response from the Mavericks which ultimately put them ahead by six with a 10-0 run. Wall would cap off the first with five points as her layup with five seconds left gave Mercy the lead by three, 16-13, after graduate shooting guard Maya Klein's three and graduate guard TiJanae Simmons' layup brought the deficit down to one point on two occasions for the Eagles.
 
Trailing by five points in the second, Klein would hit a pair of free throws as would Pagan along with a layup to give Post the lead back, 19-18, with 6:23 remaining in the half as Pagan led the way up to that point with six points. The forward would go on to finish the first half with a team-high eight points while the Eagles found themselves trailing by two, 28-26, heading into the half following junior guard Kayla Halvorsen's three for Mercy and junior guard Naj White making one of her two free throws for Post.
 
Going 3-for-6 from three-point range in the third quarter, Mercy would pull out in front by double digits for the first time with 5:46 left in the frame. After Post would pull within three, 33-30, Wall would catch fire with two threes and sophomore forward Angelina Barrera's and-one play would lead to a 16-4 run for the Mavericks who pulled in front by 15 points. A mini 4-0 run to end the third would look to give the Eagles some momentum heading into the third, trailing 49-38, with 10 minutes left to play in regulation.
 
Plagued by shooting woes, Post would struggle from the field going just 4-for-16 in the fourth while Mercy went 5-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. The largest lead of the evening for the Mavericks would be 19 points at the 2:16 mark before White's and-one basket cut the margin to its eventual 16-point final score in which the Eagles would fall, 66-50, and drop to 0-3 on the road on the young season.

BY THE NUMBERS

•  Taina Pagan finished with a team-leading 13 points and six rebounds as her double-digit rebound streak was snapped at five straight games – Pagan shot 5-for-10 from the floor and recorded five blocks
• Angelina Barrera recorded her first double-double of the season for Mercy with 10 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds
• Katie Wall helped lead the way for Mercy with 20 points while going 4-for-8 from three-point land and playing in a team-high 38 minutes -- Junior forward Angelina Barerra scored a team-high 21 points in the game
• As a team, Post University made just 1-of-15 three-point shots taken against Mercy, their fewest made when 10-plus shots from beyond the arc since November 20^th, 2018 when they went 1-for-11 against Concordia (N.Y.) on December 9^th, 2017 (60-58 Road Win)

WHO'S NEXT
Post University gets set to start Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon as they play host to Dominican (N.Y.) in the Drubner Center with a 1:00 PM scheduled tip-off. This will be a rematch of last season's CACC Championship Game in which the Lady Chargers captured the conference title with a 63-54 victory over the Eagles after splitting the regular season matchup which saw both teams win their respective home games.