Mercer Women’s Basketball Back in Action at Jacksonville State on Tuesday

MACON, Georgia (MERCER RELEASE) – After a 10-day layoff for final exams, the Mercer women’s basketball team returns to the hardwood when it travels to Alabama to take on Jacksonville State on Tuesday evening at 6:15 p.m. at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.

Mercer (5-4) has fared well in recent memory coming off its fall semester final exams break, downing Troy 69-59 after 12 days off during the 2011-12 campaign and defeating Alabama State 65-55 after nine days off last season.

Mercer leads the all-time series with Jacksonville State 12-8. The Bears won the most recent meeting between the schools, 63-51, last season thanks to a game-high 18 points from Precious Bridges.

Scouting the Opposition

Jacksonville State enters play on Tuesday with a 2-8 record after most recently dropping an 86-76 decision to Lipscomb at home on Dec. 14. The Gamecocks were picked to finish last in the East Division of the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Coaches’ poll under first-year head coach Rick Pietri. JSU has struggled on the defensive side of the ball this season, allowing opponents to score 70.5 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the field. Junior Candace Morton leads the Gamecocks offensively averaging 17.9 points per game on 40 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Last Time Out

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Mercer women’s basketball team out-scored Samford 14-3 over the final five-plus minutes of the game to pull out a 56-52 comeback win on December 7 at the Pete Hanna Center.

Junior Briana Williams paced the Bears offensively with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field. Senior Sharnea Boykin had a great all-around game for Mercer scoring eight points, grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds and handing out a game-high seven assists in the win.

Down 49-44, the Bears kept fighting using four-straight points by Boykin to cut Samford’s lead down to just one, at 49-48, with 2:29 to go in the game.

After another defensive stop, Mercer completed its comeback with a pair of clutch buckets by Briana Williams and junior Precious Bridges on back-to-back possessions to secure the win.

Game Notes

– Mercer has been on the mark with its free throws this season, shooting 74.7 percent as a team from the free throw line which is second-best in the A-Sun Conference and 34th in the nation. The Bears have two players shooting over 80 percent from the line, in juniors Precious Bridges and Briana Williams, and are not too far off from the all-time A-Sun Conference record of 76.7 percent set by USC Upstate in 2011-12.