1/19/21
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Women's Basketball team is on the wrong side of a two-game skid, and will look to get back in the win column with a road contest at Mercer County CC on Wednesday, January 19^th, in a Region XIX contest. The game is set for a 5:00pm ET start, and will be the first game of a doubleheader, with the men's game to follow. Spectators are not permitted at the game, but there will be a live video stream on the Mercer County CC Athletics website HERE.  This will be the first meeting of the season between the Vikings and the Falcons.
 
About The Falcons
The Falcons (5-6) had a rough outing in their last game on Saturday, an 84-27 loss to then #7 NJCAA DII CCBC Essex at the Lackawanna Student Union. The Knights used a suffocating defense to force 30 turnovers and hold the Falcons to just 14% shooting for the game. Lackawanna College was just 3-for-30 from downtown, and scored in single-digits in every quarter. McKeyah Duley led the Falcons with eight points, while Gabrielle Jackson and Thays Torres each put up six points. Torres was tops on the glass with 11 rebounds, while Duley and Daeja Cromartie each had eight boards.
 
Nya Morris, one of the usual starters who has missed the last three games, is the team-leader at 20.7 points per game so far this year.  Her 37 points against CCBC-Catonsville was her season-high, and she did it while going 12-for-13 from the free throw line, and hitting 11 field goals in the contest. Morris has scored in double-figures in all seven of her appearances this year. Morris won her second EPAC Player of the Week award for her efforts against Catonsville and Raritan Valley, scoring 59 points, shooting 17-for-36, and going 21-for-26 from the free throw line in both games. Morris also leads the team with 2.6 steals per game, averages 6.6 rebounds per game (second on the team) as a guard, and is hitting on 47% of her shots this year. Morris has hit 12 three-point shots on the year, third-most on the squad.
 
Gabrielle Jackson, is the second-leading scorer on the squad, averaging 12.3 points per game. She has scored double-figures in seven of ten games this year, including her season-high 21 against Union County College. Jackson averages a team-high 3.3 assists per game, tied with Ashanté Amos. Gabby also averages 4.3 rebounds per game as a guard. Jackson scored 14 points despite battling foul trouble against Monroe Bronx, and made a season-high five free throws for the Falcons. Jackson had six points, five rebounds, and one assist against CCBC Essex.
 
McKeyah Duley is the third-leading scorer, averaging 8.2 points per game this season. Her 19 points against ASA was the first time in six games that she had hit double-figures, and just the second time all season. Duley had a season-high 25 points in a loss to Essex CC in November, where she hit four three-pointers. Her season-high from downtown is the five threes she hit against ASA. Duley leads the team in three-point shots made at 19. She also averages 6.2 rebounds per game, fourth on the squad. Twice she's grabbed her season-high of 12 boards, against both Essex County and Catonsville.
 
Ashanté Amos is the fourth-leading scorer at 7.7 points per game this year. Amos had hit double-figures in four of her last five games before her games against Monroe Bronx (6 points) and CCBC Essex (4 points), and set season-highs for points in back-to-back games against Catonsville (14) and then ASA (17). Amos's seven assists against ASA was her season-high, and she is tied with Gabrielle Jackson for first on the team is assists per game (3.3). Amos is second on the team with 16 made three-point shots.
 
Ny Jackson is fifth on the team with 7.4 points per game this year. She's scored in double-figures four times this season, and has scored more points in her last three games (34) than she has in her first six appearances (33). Ny scored a season-high 21 points in the win against ASA Brooklyn, when she hit five three-point shots and scored 15 points in the first half alone. Jackson shot 46% from the field, and 44% from beyond-the-arc in her last two games leading up to the CCBC Essex contest.
 
Thays Torres will also see time, and she's averaging 7.2 points per game this year. Thays has hit double-figures three times this year, and scored a season-high of 13 points against Niagara County CC earlier this season. Torres is averaging 6.5 rebounds per game, and is second on the team with 16 steals this year. Thays had eleven points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals in the win over ASA, and followed that up with five points, seven rebounds, and a season-high five steals against Monroe Bronx.
 
Daeja Cromartie will also see significant time for the Falcons. The veteran leader is averaging 5.6 points per game, thanks in part to her season-high 18 points against Delaware Tech, where she went 9-for-10 from the floor. Daeja had a team-high 12 rebounds against Northampton, and fell just two points shy of her first double-double of the season. Daeja had five points and a season-high 20 rebounds against Monroe Brooklyn. Cromartie is averaging 7.7 rebounds per game, a team-best.  
 
Lackawanna College, averaging 69.4 points per game, is shooting at 36.2% as a team this season, and has hit 29.1% from beyond-the-arc. Lackawanna is also shooting at 61.4% from the free-throw line. Lackawanna College holds a +3 rebounding margin, and has 44 blocks as a team. The Falcons are holding their opponents to 33.7% shooting so far this year, and teams have only hit 20.9% of their three-point attempts against the Lackawanna College defense, ranking the Falcons 11^th in the NJCAA out of teams that have played at least eight games. Opponents are averaging 69.2 points per game against the Falcon defense.   
 
Head Coach Joya Whittington enters her eighth season at the helm for the Falcons, winning three district championships and making three NJCAA National Tournament appearances, all within the last five seasons. Whittington is a three-time District Coach of the Year, and has won 154 games in her coaching career at Lackawanna College. Whittington is a Seton Hill University graduate, and a Carbondale, PA native, where she played for Carbondale Area HS.
 
About the Opponents
The Mercer County CC Vikings are 2-9 on the season, and are coming off a 69-28 win over the Ocean County College in their last game. The Vikings broke open a tight, four-point contest after one quarter, outscoring OCC 55-18 the rest of the way, securing their second win of the season. It was the first game of 2022 for Mercer, after having a few cancelations and postponements.
 
Mercer County averages 53.1 points per game, while giving up a stout 71.0 on the year. The Vikings have topped 60 points four times this year, and had their season-high 69 against Ocean County College. Mercer is shooting 37% from the field as a team, and hits around 21% from beyond-the-arc. The Vikings have a -13 rebounding margin, and are averaging 24.5 turnovers per game. Opponents are shooting 39% from the field, but have only hit 17.5% from downtown, putting Mercer in the top-ten of the NJCAA rankings in 3PT% defense. Mercer's opponents are averaging 14.5 steals per game.
 
The Vikings have a pair of scorers in double-figures on the year, and are led by N'dia Stepps with 22.1 points per game. Stepps is shooting a crisp 46% from the field, and also leads the team in rebounding (8.3 per game), assists (2.9), steals (2.4), and blocks (1.9). Stepps has scored in double-figures in all ten games before the Ocean County game, including a season-high 29 points against RCSJ Gloucester, where she went 13-for-22 from the free throw line. Stepps has scored 20+ points seven times this year, before the Ocean County game. Stepps has four double-doubles on the year, and had a season-high 15 rebounds against Essex County. She had a season-high six assists against Gloucester, and a season-high five steals against Brookdale.  
 
Alyssa Oldfield is the other Viking in double-figures, with 10.7 points per game this season. Oldfield leads the team in three-point shooting, hitting 27% on the year. She's second on the team with 8.0 rebounds per game, and 1.8 steals per game. Before the Ocean County game, Oldfield had hit double-figures on four separate occasions, including a season-high 24 points in a loss to Union County College, where she hit a season-high nine field goals. Oldfield has gone over double-digits in rebounds three times, including a season-high 15 rebounds against Essex County. She had a season-high five three-pointers against Delaware Tech this season.
 
Treona Andino is third on the team with 6.7 points per game. Andino is shooting 35% from the field this year, good enough for fourth on the team, and is third on the team with 1.9 assists per game. Andino has hit double-figures, and her season-high was 15 points against County College of Morris, one of the only two wins for the Vikings on the year. She hit a season-high seven field goals against the Titans. Andino had a season-high five assists against Delaware Tech.  
 
Trechelle Andino is fourth on the team at 4.8 points per game. Trechelle leads the team in free throw shooting (86%), and is third on the team in overall shooting (37.7%). She is second on the team in assists per game (2.5), and is third on the team in steals per game (1.5). Trechelle has hit double-figures just once this year, a 13-point performance against Delaware Tech, where shit hit five field goals. She also had a season-high five assists against Delaware Tech, and has pulled down a season-high six rebounds on three separate occasions.
 
Destiny Stocking is averaging 4.6 points per game this season, and is fourth on the team with 6.7 rebounds per game. Stocking had a season-high nine points against RCSJ Gloucester, where she pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds. Stocking didn't play in the last four games before the contest against Ocean County College.
 
Lizauris Alers is averaging 4.0 points per game, and is second on the team in shooting at 37.8% on the year. Alers is third on the team with 7.9 rebounds per game. Her season-high of 12 points came against Gloucester, where she hit a season-high six field goals. She hit double-figures in rebounds in four games, and hit her season-high 12 rebounds against Raritan Valley in December.
 
The head coach for Mercer County CC is Reggie Murray, in his second year at Mercer County and his first full-season at the helm of the Vikings program. Murray took over the program in April 2020, following the retirement of former coach Mike Tenaglia. Murray came to Mercer County CC after 32 years and over 600 wins as the head coach at powerhouse Trenton Central HS. Murray, who has been deemed the "Most Winningest Coach" in Mercer County History, won nine conference championships, four Mercer County tournament championships, and multiple NJSIAA Group IV titles, including a 2002 Tournament of Champions title, where his team went 30-1, the best in Mercer County history. A Trenton native, Murray went to Trenton High, and graduated from Seton Hall University before getting into coaching by taking over Trenton's basketball program.
 
Game Information
The match-up is set for a 5:00pm ET tip-off at the Physical Education Building on the campus of Mercer County CC on Wednesday, January 19^th. Spectators are NOT permitted.
 
The game will be video live-streamed via the Mercer County CC Athletics website, HERE.
 
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, January 22^nd, when they host the Delaware Tech CC Terry Hawks. The game is the first of a doubleheader with the men's teams, and will start at 12:00pm ET at the Lackawanna Student Union.