Mercer University
Alabama St.
Bears Wrap Up Non-Conference Play with 59-54 Win at ASU
12/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Mercer women's basketball team won its third-straight game and in the process tied a record set back in 1995-96 season following a 59-54 triumph over Alabama State on Friday evening at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
Mercer (7-4) won its seventh non-conference game this season, the most in a single-season since the 1995-96 version of the Bears were also victorious in seven non-conference tilts.
Junior Precious Bridges tallied a team-high 17 points while tying her career-high with seven rebounds for Mercer who have now won three games in a row for the first time this season.
"Tonight was just another Mercer women's basketball game that again came down to the last few possessions, but we were able to pull it out thanks to a great team effort on both sides of the ball," head coach Susie Gardner said. "Nakiya Smith was really hurting us in the first half, but we did a much better job on her in the second half defensively by switching some things up which I really think was the key."
The Bears got off to a quick start offensively jumping out to a 10-3 lead after a jumper by Bridges with 14:52 left in the first half. Senior Kendra Grant led the early surge with five early points.
Mercer used the offensive glass to widen its lead towards the middle of the first half. Offensive rebound tip-ins by junior Teanna Robinson and senior Kate Alemann made the score 23-14 with 9:43 to go in the first half.
Alabama State started to make a late run, but a three-pointer and a fast break lay-in by Bridges pushed Mercer out to a 38-31 lead going into halftime.
The Hornets continued to cut into Mercer's lead coming out of halftime, using an 11-4 run capped by a three-pointer by senior Nakiya Smith to tie the game up at 42-42 with 15:03 remaining in the second half.
The Bears started to take back control of the game after a fast break lay-in by junior Briana Williams made the score 51-46 Mercer with 7:33 left in the second half.
Both teams hit a lull offensively from that point forward, combining for just four points over the next three minutes of game action.
With Mercer up three with just under two minutes left in the game, the Bears forced back-to-back turnovers on defense and received a put-back lay-in by junior Alicia Williams to make the score 57-52 with 50 seconds left in the game.
Bridges did the rest from there drilling a pair of free throws on the Bears next possession to secure the road win.
Senior Kendra Grant narrowly missed out on her first career double-double, pouring in 13 points to go along with a career-high nine rebounds in the win.
"Tonight was a total team effort using Alicia Williams as an example because she didn't have her best game, but came through with a big tip-in late," Gardner said. "This was a nice win going into the holidays and hopefully we learned some things with all these close non-conference wins that will prepare us for a very tough Atlantic Sun Conference schedule."
Mercer is now on a 13-day break for the holidays and returns to action with the start of Atlantic Sun Conference play against North Florida on January 2. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Hawkins Arena.
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