Mercer Falls on the Road at Northern Kentucky, 72-61

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (MERCER RELEASE) – The Mercer women’s basketball team exchanged leads with Northern Kentucky nine times in the first half, but the Norse used a series of decisive runs in the second half to pick up a 72-61 victory Thursday evening at The Bank of Kentucky Center in Atlantic Sun Conference action.

The Norse (7-7, 3-0 A-Sun) extend their winning streak to a season-long three games with the victory and remain atop the conference standings, while the Bears (8-6, 1-2 A-Sun) come up short in their first conference road contest of the year.

Entering the game two points shy of 1,000 career points, Precious Bridges reached the milestone on her first attempt from the field, knocking down a runner off the glass with 16:38 remaining in the first half. Averaging 13.5 points for her career, the junior becomes the 23rd player in Mercer women’s basketball history to accomplish the feat and just the sixth active A-Sun player with 1,000 career points.

A back and forward affair in the first half saw the lead change hands nine different times with Mercer holding its largest advantage of the half nearly five minutes into the contest when Kendra Grant knocked down a jumper from the top of the key to make it 12-7.

The Bears held a 25-24 lead with just over seven minutes left in the period before Northern Kentucky went on a 14-5 run to close the half, including scoring the final six points to take a 38-30 lead into intermission.

Northern Kentucky made a living at the charity stripe in the opening frame, knocking down all 11 of its attempts, while Mercer failed to attempt a single free throw over the first 20 minutes of action.

The Norse came out of intermission and extended their lead to double digits with a quick bucket, but the Bears fought back over the next four minutes and a Teanna Robinson layup cut the lead to 40-35 with 15:53 remaining in the game.

After NKU pushed its advantage to 22 points with less than seven minutes to play in the contest, Mercer flipped a switch and used a 7-0 run to grab the momentum for the final stretch of the game. The Bears cut the Norse lead down to 11 points at three different points, but NKU held on and emerged with a 72-61 victory.

Entering the game with the top free throw percentage in the league, Northern Kentucky added to that lead with a 19-for-23 performance from the charity stripe, outscoring Mercer by 12 points from the line.

Bridges led the Bears with 17 points, while Sharnea Boykin was the only other Mercer player in double figures with 14 points and five rebounds.

The Bears will make their way to the Music City for a Saturday afternoon showdown with Lipscomb. Tip-off against the Bisons is set for 5 p.m. EST at Allen Arena and will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App.