Bears Hold Off App State

Thursday, November 11

Macon, Ga.

7:00 PM

Mercer University

1-1,0-0SoCon

Appalachian State

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Appalachian St.	11	10	22	14	57
Mercer	15	11	20	15	61

11/11/2021 10:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer guts out first win of the season, 61-57

MACON, Ga. – Double-doubles by Jaron Dougherty, Shannon Titus and Sierra Votaw led Mercer to a win over visiting App State on Thursday night.
Mercer (1-1) outrebounded the visiting Mountaineers (1-1) by a 60-40 margin and collected 21 second chance points to eek out the victory. Votaw put up a single game-best 15 points and matched a single-game best of 10 boards; and Dougherty scored 20, another single-game high and nabbed a best 20 boards. Titus notched 13 apiece in points and rebounds on the evening herself.

How it Happened
Both teams got off to a slow start, so slow the first points were notched at 7:21 of the contest by App State. Following the 2-0 lead, Mercer got out in front for good, but couldn't quite keep the Mountaineers out of it. The combination of Dougherty's seven points and 10 rebounds and Votaw's six points and eight boards in the first half set the tone for Mercer on the close win. 22 points from the bench signaled a team effort in getting the result.
When App State closed the fourth quarter margin to just one with 11 seconds to go, Titus and Amoria Neal-Tysor sank two free throws to seal the first win of the campaign.

Quotables – Head Coach Susie Gardner
On the first win of the season
"We got lucky. Thankfully Sierra Votaw came to play, was six-for-six, had a double-double. Probably the best game of her career. We did a good job as a team of rebounding, we outrebounded them 60 to 40. Something we talked about was doing a better job of rebounding. We really just got lucky. We're turning the ball over too much still, we've got a long way to go."

Notables
• Votaw's career night included 15 points and 10 boards – both broke marks set in the 2020 calendar year
• Dougherty's 20 rebounds were split perfectly with 10 rebounds per half
• It was the first time since last March's SoCon Championship that a Mercer squad had at least two with double-digit rebounders
• This is the first win in the series for Mercer over these foes from Boone, North Carolina

Up Next
Mercer will conclude the three game homestand by hosting Troy this coming Monday, November 15^th. Tipoff against the Trojans will be at 7 p.m. and broadcasted on ESPN+ and can be heard on Mercer Sports Network (109.9 The Creek).
Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB / @Mercer_WBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball / /MercerWBB (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB / @Mercerwbb (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.