DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – On Wednesday evening, the Queens College women's basketball team returned to East Coast Conference postseason play for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
The Knights seeded No. 6 matched up against the No. 3 seed and host Mercy College Mavericks inside the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center who swept the Knights during the season, 50-48 on January 21 in Dobbs Ferry, before spoiling the Knights' Senior Day on February 25 to the final score of 66-52.
Faced with a big task ahead of them against an experienced side, it was the Knights' underclassman guard duo of sophomore Chelsea Reeves (Brooklyn, N.Y) and freshman Brianna Davis (Bronx, N.Y.) who would lead the way Wednesday evening. The duo combined for 33 points as the Knights squad held their composure and a late rally from the Mavericks to advance to the semi-final game to the final score of 57-52.
With the win, the Knights advance to their first semi-final game since the 2016-17 season and become the first ECC team seeded No. 6 to advance since the 2014-15 playoffs when Saint Thomas Aquinas College defeated Robert Wesleyan 69-58 on March 4, 2015.
Game Recap
With the young Knights squad playing their first postseason game, the guard duo of Davis and Reeves put the Knights in command early on as Queens opened the game on a 4-0 run.
Mavericks Katie Wall would cut the deficit down to two, 4-2 after two made free throws, but graduate student Raven Pitt (Valley Stream, N.Y.) would start a 12-0 run from the 6:32 mark to the 2:24 mark as the Knights took a 12 point lead of 16-4.
The Knights' defense would keep the Mavericks without a field goal until the 1:41 mark as they held the home side to 0-11 from the field before Kellie Nudd stopped the Knights' run with a layup at the 1:41 mark.
A three-pointer by Wall would bring the Knights' lead down to seven 16-9 heading into the second quarter.
Queens put forth one of their best first quarter of the season shooting a blistering 61.5% on 8-13 field goals while holding the Mavericks to 2-15 from the field on 13.3% shooting with five forced turnovers.
Davis opened the second quarter with a layup as the Knights extended their lead back to nine, 18-9 just 19 seconds into resumption.
Back-to-back shots from Jaclyn Stanavich would bring the host within five, 18-13 with 7:32 to go until halftime.
As the Knights looked to stay ahead, the Mavericks would hold the visitors to 23.1% shooting as they cut the deficit down to 23-21 heading into the locker room on a 6-2 run.
All season long, one bad quarter would hurt the Knights' momentum as the Mavericks responded shooting 66.7% from the field as they forced four Knights turnovers in the second quarter.
The Mavericks would continue their run to open the third quarter as they tied the game 23-23 on a jumper from Sara Hopkins at the 8:40 mark.
After Queens controlled the first half of the game, the third quarter would see six ties and four lead changes as the Mavericks stayed within one possession of the game.
But despite the Knights shooting 54.5% from the field, seven turnovers would allow Mercy to take a tied game to the score of 36-36 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Looking to respond, junior Khadija Demry's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) back-to-back jumpers helped Queens start an 11-2 run from the 9:44 mark to the 7:15 mark capped off by a big three-pointer from Davis as Queens took a 47-38 lead forcing a Mercy timeout.
With the Mavericks looking to stop the Knights' momentum, Queens would force a turnover before Demry's third made bucket of the quarter put them ahead by 11, 49-39 with 6:36 left in the game.
Having faced adversity all season long, the Knights would have to hold their nerve and one final rally from Mercy and a packed Neil Judge Student Athlete Center as they would be without Davis and junior Kendra McPeek (Binghamton, N.Y.) over the final 3:50 minute of play.
Trailing by 49-38, the Mavericks feeding off their home crowd would use a 12-2 run from 6:19 to 1:58 as they cut Queens advantage down to two, 51-49 forcing a Queens timeout.
After having two double-digit leads cut down to single digits on various occasions and pressure now on the young Knights squad, freshman center Gianna Henriques (Bronx, N.Y.) would go 1-2 at the charity stripe to extend Queens lead back to three, 52-49 with 1:25 left in the game.
Reeves and Henriques would their nerves over the final one minute of play as they iced the game at the charity stripe going 5-6 at the line to defeat the Mavericks 57-52 to advance to the semi-final game.
Game Highlights
- Reeves led the offense with a game-high 17 points (6-13 FG, 5-6 FT) with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
- Davis tallied 16 points (7-10 FG, 2-3 3PT) to go with two rebounds, two assists, and a game-and-team-tying four steals.
- McPeek recorded eight points (4-5 FG) to go with three rebounds, while Pitt recorded an all-round game with four points (2-7 FG), five rebounds, six assists, and four steals on the evening.
- The Knights shot 50.0% going 24-48 from the field while the Mavericks were held to 34.0% from the field on 17-50 shooting.
- Mercy won the boards battle (34-28) as they held a 12-0 margin on second-chance points.
- The Knights forced 21 Mavericks turnovers as they converted them to 21 points.
NEXT TIP-OFF: Head coach Bet Naumovski and the Knights will now travel to Amherst, N.Y. for the next round with No. 1 seed and regular season champions Daemen University Wildcats hosting the semi-final and final.
The Knights will match up against No. 2 seed St. Thomas Aquinas in game two on Saturday (Mar. 4) afternoon inside Lumsden Gymnasium. Tip-off set for 3:00 p.m.
Provided by the Queens Sports Information Department.
