DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – Sophomore guard Toni Neely-Primus scored a career-high 24 points, but the Roberts Wesleyan College women's basketball team could not hold off a late run by host Mercy College and dropped a 68-63 decision to the Mavericks in an East Coast Conference game on Friday.
Roberts (1-2, 4-5) rallied from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 60-59 lead on a layup by senior guard Taryn Wilson with 2:39 remaining, but Mercy closed the game with a 9-3 spurt to earn the victory.
"We hung in there but every time that we took the lead they came back and made a big shot," Roberts coach Kevin Clifford said. "It was a game of runs and they made the last one."
Neely-Primus, who scored all 11 of Roberts' points in the second quarter, hit back-to-back 3-point shots to give Roberts a 26-20 lead with 5:18 remaining in the second before the Mavericks closed the half on a 10-0 run. Neely-Primus made 4 of her 6 3-point attempts in the game.
"Toni played really well, she kind of carried us in the first half," Clifford said. "I think that she was in a good rhythm and was stepping in to her shots. She really got hot there for a while." 
Wilson, who missed most of the last two games with an injury, returned to the Redhawks' lineup and finished with nine points and four assists. Georgia Haverling, Dimitra Gkizani and Danielle DiCintio all added eight points for Roberts. DiCintio scored seven of her points in the third quarter.
Freshman Grace Dow turned in a strong performance on the defensive end with four blocked shots.
Mercy outscored Roberts 11-3 from the free-throw line and held a 15-4 advantage in second chance points.
The Redhawks play their final game of 2021 at 1 p.m. Sunday at Saint Thomas Aquinas College. Roberts will play its first game of 2022 at 5 p.m. Jan. 5 at the Voller Athletic Center.