Bears Drop OT Heartbreaker to UNCG in Semifinals

Friday, March 6

Asheville, N.C.

1:15 P.M.

Mercer University

8-23,4-10SoCon

UNCG (Semifinal)

23-8,10-4SoCon

OT 1

Mercer

UNC Greensboro

Photo by: SoCon Photos

Bears Drop OT Heartbreaker to UNCG in Semifinals

3/6/2020 6:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer ends the 2019-20 season in the SoCon Tournament semis

By: Stephen Waldman

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer women's basketball team saw its 2019-20 season come to a close in the Southern Conference Semifinals with a heartbreaking 75-73 overtime loss to No. 3 UNCG on Friday afternoon at Harrah's Cherokee Center.

Jaron Dougherty and Shannon Titus led the Bears in scoring as they had all season with 24 points apiece, while Titus pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Dougherty totaled six boards on the day and led the team in assists (4), blocks (3) and steals (2). Amoria Neal-Tysor chipped in with 11 points in the game, including the only made 3-pointer for either team. Summer Pahl added six points on 3-of-5 shooting and gathered five rebounds.

Mercer shot 42.6 percent (29-of-68) in the game and was a season-best 87.5 percent from the free throw line (14-of-16). The Bears won the turnover battle for the 22nd time this season, 18-11, while out-blocking UNCG, 6-1. The Bears' defense did a great job challenging SoCon Player of the Year Nadine Soliman, holding her to 4-of-14 from the field and forced her to turn the ball over six times.

The Spartans maintained a 47-30 edge in rebounding, including 19 on the offensive glass that they turned into an 18-2 advantage in second chance points.

How It Happened
Mercer was a problem for UNCG from the opening tip, jumping out to an early 8-4 lead. The Bears led 15-14 after a balanced first 10 minutes by both sides and extended their lead to five at 19-14 with 7:31 left in the second quarter after Dougherty made a pair of free throws. UNCG managed to tie the game on a couple of occasions, but the Bears seemed to always have a response. It wasn't until an 11-0 run by the Spartans to end the first half that the 3-seed earned its first lead of the game.

Coming out of the intermission, Titus was determined to get her team back into the game. She did just that as the junior guard asserted herself on the offensive end of the floor by scoring Mercer's first nine points of the second half on 4-of-5 shooting. As a team, Mercer opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take a 38-36 lead. After UNCG tied the game with 5:27 on the clock, the Bears were able to hold off the Spartans and maintained a lead throughout the rest of the third quarter.

The two sides battled down the stretch in an absolute dog fight as the game saw either a tied score or a lead change six times over the final three minutes of regulation. Dougherty stepped up for the Bears during that time as she scored Mercer's last eight points in the fourth quarter, including going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Like regulation, neither team was able to gain any separation in overtime. Mercer scored on 5-of-9 possessions in the extra period, including a pair of jumpers by Neal-Tysor to tie the game that were bookended around a layup by Aja Boyd. With the game tied at 73 and 18 seconds on the clock, the Spartans put the ball in the hands of Soliman. The senior had the ball at the top of the key with five seconds left before driving left. She spun back toward the free throw line, but was met by a pair of Bears defenders. Out of options and time, Soliman heaved the ball toward the basket and banked in the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds on the clock to send the Spartans to their first SoCon title game since 2006.

Players of the Game
As they have done all season, Titus and Dougherty led the Bears on both ends of the court. The duo combined for 48 of the team's 73 points with 24 apiece, while Titus gathered a team-high eight rebounds. Dougherty finished with six rebounds and recorded team highs with four assists, three blocks and two steals. It was the second time this season the tandem both scored at least 20 points in the same game, having also done so against ETSU on Jan. 23.

Notables
» This is the first time since 2015 that Mercer won't be playing in the SoCon Championship game.
» Today's game marked the first overtime game in the SoCon Tournament since the 2015 title game.
» Mercer fell to 0-3 in overtime games this season.
» Titus finished the season with 60 blocks, the fourth-highest single-season total in program history.
» Titus tied Jessica Miller for second on Mercer's single season steals list with 83.
» Titus finished the season with 24 double digit scoring performances, including five 20-point games.
» Dougherty totaled 22 double digit scoring games and nine 20-point games.
» Rookie Jill Harris finished the season with 124 assists and a 1.24 assist-to-turnover ratio.

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.