Mercer Focused on Final Road Trip of Season

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Women's Basketball team will close out its road schedule of the 2019-20 season this weekend.

The Bears open the weekend against the Spartans on Thursday before taking on ETSU on Saturday. The games are set to tip off at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020 | 7 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (6-19, 3-7 SoCon) at Chattanooga (8-17, 7-4 SoCon)
Location: Chattanooga, Tenn. | McKenzie Arena
Live Stats: GoMocs.com/LiveStats
TV: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB
Game Notes: Mercer | Chattanooga

Date: Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 | 2 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (6-20, 3-8 SoCon) at ETSU (8-19, 3-9 SOCon)
Location: Johnson City, Tenn. | J. Madison Brooks Gymnasium
Live Stats: ETSUBucs.com/LiveStats
TV: ESPN3
Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB
Game Notes: Mercer | ETSU

Lending A Helping Hand
Rookie Jill Harris has been one of the most selfless players for the Bears in the 2019-20 season with a team-high 91 assists on the year. The Navarre, Fla., native has more assists than any other freshman in the Southern Conference.

Harris' 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio is the second best in the conference overall and ranks fourth in the country among freshmen.

Defense is Key
Mercer has been one of the most active teams on the defensive end of the court. The Bears lead the SoCon in blocks (124, 5.0 per game) and steals (210, 8.4 per game). As a team, the Bears rank 19th nationally in blocks and 21st in blocks per game.

Shannon Titus leads the team in both categories with 67 steals and 42 blocks. She leads the SoCon in steals and is second in the conference in blocks. Jaron Dougherty is also among the SoCon's best, ranking fourth in both categories with 41 steals and 35 blocks.

Last Time Out
Mercer battled throughout the entire afternoon but was unable to come away with the victory as they fell to Samford, 60-54, on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.

The Bears had trouble on the glass as they were outrebounded, 45-33, as well as on the free throw line. Mercer committed 18 fouls to Samford's 10 with the Bulldogs making the host pay for it by going 13-of-15 from the charity stripe.

Mercer's defense was much more prevalent than in its first meeting with as the Bears limited Samford to a 33.9 shooting percentage (21-of-62) from the floor down from 54.9 percent on Jan. 18. The Bears generated three steals off nine turnovers and blocked seven shots in the game.

Junior Shannon Titus was once again one of the key contributors for the Bears, posting team highs in points (13), rebounds (9) and blocks (3). Amoria Neal-Tysor added 12 points, three rebounds and four assists, while Summer Pahl recorded her third double-digit point performance with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Both Jaron Dougherty and Jill Harris scored eight points each with Dougherty collecting nine rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Harris dished out a team-high six assists and added a steal in 35 minutes of action.

Series History (Chattanooga)
While Mercer is 7-16 all-time against Chattanooga, the Bears are riding a five-game winning streak against the Mocs into Thurday's matchup. The Bears are 2-8 on the road against Chattanooga, with both wins coming in the last two meetings.

The Bears earned their first SoCon win of the season against Chattanooga in their first meeting with a 55-48 victory. Jaron Dougherty (29 points) and Shannon Titus (18 points) set the tone for the Bears in the game as the duo combined for 47 points. Dougherty tallied 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season to go along with a game-high four blocks. Titus contributed eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists in the game.

Scouting the Mocs
The Mocs have bounced back after losing to Mercer on Jan. 25, rattling off four wins in their last five games. Chattanooga has beaten ETSU (9182), UNCG (74-59), Furman (69-63) and Wofford (51-49) over that stretch.

Lakelyn Bouldin leads the Mocs with 12.1 points per game and ranks ninth in program history with 1,399 points. She leads the SoCon and ranks 36th nationally with a 84.6 percent success rate at the free throw line. Bouldin also leads the conference with 36.6 minutes per game, good enough for 25th in the country.

Series History (ETSU)
Mercer enters today's matchup with an all-time record of 21-19 against ETSU. The Bucs are one of Mercer's most familiar SoCon foes having also played against them in the Atlantic Sun Conference from 2005-06 to 2014-15 when both teams moved to the SoCon.

Mercer holds an 8-5 advantage over ETSU since joining the Southern Conference, including winning eight-of-the-last-nine matchups.

In their first meeting this season, ETSU came away with a 72-66 win at Hawkins Arena on Jan. 23 thanks to a 27-point second quarter. Both Jaron Dougherty and Shannon Titus recorded 20-point games in the loss with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Amoria Neal-Tysor added 19 points and a career-high eight rebounds.

Scouting the Bucs
ETSU has struggled since its meeting with Mercer as the Mocs have lost five of their last six games. The Mocs are riding a three-game losing skid with setbacks against UNCG (65-45), Wofford (86-62) and Furman (67-47). The Mocs are one of the top free throw shooting teams in the country, ranking 21st in attempts (520) and 19th in makes (363).

Individually, Micah Sheetz is the team's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game. Tijuana Kimbro is the only player in the SoCon with more blocked shots than Shannon Titus with 49 denials. She ranks 31st in the country.

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @Mercer_WBB (Twitter), /MercerWBB(Facebook) and @MercerWBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

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Players Mentioned

Jaron Dougherty

Jill Harris

Amoria Neal-Tysor

Summer Pahl

Shannon Titus

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