Falling to Furman

Thursday, January 20

Macon, Ga.

7:00 PM

Mercer University

11-6,4-1SoCon

Furman

9-8,2-1SoCon

Furman

Mercer

Photo by: James Thomas

1/20/2022 10:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer suffers first SoCon setback, 69-66, to Paladins

MACON, Ga. – Unable to stave off a fourth quarter rally by the visiting Furman Paladins, Mercer fell for the first time in conference play. Amoria Neal-Tysor led the way for Mercer (11-5, 4-1 SoCon) offensively, scoring 22 points and pulling four offensive rebounds in a back-and-forth game. Three other Bears – Erin Houpt, Shannon Titus and Jaron Dougherty – put up at 10 points apiece to help carry the Bears on the evening.

From the field, Mercer mustered just 40.6% (28-for-69) of their shots and only converted on 55.6% (5-for-9) from the charity stripe.
Tierra Hodges – the two-time reigning SoCon Player of the Month – was a force for the Paladins (9-8, 2-1 SoCon), scoring 26 points and collecting 15 rebounds, 11 of which came on the defensive end. 12 of Hodges' 26 came in the final quarter, where the Paladins outscored the Bears by a 25-21 margin to take the league win.

How it Happened
Mercer and Furman traded punches with both sides taking leads and having the other respond. Furman jumped out to the first quarter at 13-10 before a Houpt buzzer-beating three from deep tied it at 24 leading into the break. In that second quarter, Mercer chipped away a lead that was 10 before using the deep trey to knot it up.
The Bears started the third with a lead that ballooned up to nine before the visitors stormed back to cut it to just one before the final stanza. Hodges' 12 fourth quarter points proved to be the difference in the period's momentum. While the Paladins led by as many as 10 on two occasions, Mercer whittled their deficit to just three twice in the contest's last 12 ticks. Following a missed Titus free throw with just five ticks left, Sierra Votaw snagged a timely steal and fed it to Houpt for a potential game-tying three. The prayer by the Danville, Ill. product rimmed out as time expired.

Quotables – Head Coach Susie Gardner
The takeaways from the result
"Every time we play Furman, it's typically a close game. Jackie (Carson) always does a great job of coaching her team. They have one of the best players in the league in Tierra Hodges and she proved that tonight by going 26 points and 15 rebounds. They were ready. We were ready. It was a great game – it was back-and-forth, it was close, it was competitive. It's exactly what you would think a SoCon game would be like, and it came down to a last shot. I'm proud of our players for fighting back. We got a lead; we lost the lead. They got a lead and lost the lead. It was one of those games where both teams played well and hopefully, we'll learn from this as we prepare for another great opponent in Wofford."

Notables
• The Bears' win streak is snapped after five games
• Dougherty, Neal-Tysor and Titus all have scored in double-figures in four of five league games

Up Next
Mercer will welcome Wofford to Hawkins Arena on Saturday, January 22. Tip between the Bears and Terriers is set for 2:30 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard on 100.9 FM The Creek and SportsMic as "The Voice of the Bears," Rick Cameron, will be on the call.
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.