Bears Escape

Sunday, December 5

Nashville, Tenn.

2:00 PM ET

Mercer University

6-4,0-0SoCon

Tennessee State

3-5,0-0OVC

OT 1

Mercer

Tennessee St.

Photo by: Kayla Davis

12/5/2021 5:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer fends off Tennessee State in overtime, 71-70

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the first half, it looked like Mercer was going to coast against host Tennessee State in Nashville on Sunday afternoon, but things didn't go to plan. The Bears (6-4) fought off a 41-point second half surge by the Lady Tigers by claiming a 9-8 margin in the extra period. Jaron Dougherty led the Bears with 18 points and five assists, while Endia Banks and Allie Thayne put up 13 and 10, respectively.

OT : 25 » Endia ➡️ Shannon ➡️ lead MER 71, TSU 68 pic.twitter.com/uN7TOykldP — Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 5, 2021

How it Happened
Mercer quickly controlled the opening first quarter by taking 24 of the game's first 26 points en route to a 27-7 lead into the second, including shooting 81.3% (13-of-16) from the field and six defensive rebounds. Slightly outscored in the second by a point, the Bears kept their momentum by opportune baskets.

Five different Bears – Dougherty, Erin Houpt, Banks, Thayne and Votaw – scored at least a basket in the second frame.

Coming out of the intermission, Tennessee State quickly grabbed the game's momentum. A quick Mercer timeout could not stop TSU's quarter-opening push. The Lady Tigers used a 17-10 run to claw their way back into the contest with five points each by Alexis Pierce and Saniah Parker and entered the final quarter of regulation with the lead nearly in single digits.
A 19-10 fourth quarter by the hosts forced the necessary extra period to decide the winner.

Q1 :15 » Another 3 by @erin_houpt10. No, this was not a scheduled tweet. MER 27, TSU 7#WhateverItTakes | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/j1RZ243Scp — Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 5, 2021

The final minutes of regulation featured the hosts' only lead until the scoring went back-and-forth until overtime. A Shannon Titus block of a Pierce three-point attempt in the waning seconds of overtime secured the win for Mercer. Five of Mercer's nine points in the extra frame came from the charity stripe. Timely turnovers forced by Mercer gave them the opportunities to seal the hard-fought win.

Quotables – Head Coach Susie Gardner
Thoughts on the game
"I thought we played an outstanding first quarter. Things were flowing for us. We shot 81% percent in the first quarter and really got off to a great lead and we knew that TSU was going to amp up their defense, which they did, especially in the second half. We played one of our best quarters of the year in the first and just had to scratch and claw and find a way to survive this game. I'm really proud of our seniors – Jaron, Allie, Amoria and Shannon – who had to play a lot more minutes and of course, Endia, did a good job for us down the stretch. We'll just take the win, it was not pretty, but I'm glad we have a week until we play again so we can work on Mercer basketball and not always just scouting the opponent."

Notables
• With nine points, Titus now has notched 1,309 points in her career
• The contest featured six leads for both sides
• It was the first overtime contest of the season, and first since a double-overtime affair versus Wofford in February of last season
• Allie Thayne has notched 10 points – a career-high - in two of the last three games

Up Next
Mercer will return home to host UCF in the opener of a nine-game homestand that will span to the start of SoCon play. Tipoff versus the Knights will be at 2 p.m.

Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer 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.