Closing Out the Season With a Road Result

Saturday, February 26

Birmingham, AL

3:00 PM ET

Mercer University

20-6,13-1SoCon

Samford

12-16,7-7SoCon

Mercer

Samford

Photo by: Mark Olencki - Wofford Athletics

2/26/2022 6:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Shannon Titus’ 20 points lead Mercer in regular season finale

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Shannon Titus, usually known for her defense, came up in a massive way offensively to lead Mercer past Samford in the regular season finale, 64-55. The super senior from Johns Creek, Ga. led the way for the Bears (20-6, 13-1 SoCon) with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal over the Bulldogs (12-16, 7-7 SoCon) in the Pete Hanna Center. Defensively, Mercer forced an impressive 22 turnovers on Samford, which led to 17 points on the afternoon.

The reigning league player of the week, Amoria Neal-Tysor, tallied 12 points, dished six assists, stole twice and nabbed a defensive board. Allie Thayne added six points, four boards, two assists, a block and a swipe.

How it Happened
Mercer stormed to take the contest's first 10 points – which included four points off two jumpers by Jaron Dougherty- in the opening three minutes. In an effort to stop Mercer's early momentum, Samford responded with taking nine of the next 11 to close a 10-point gap to just three nearly halfway through the opening stanza.

The Bulldogs closed their deficit to just three going into the second. Mercer took an eight-point lead into intermission after Erin Houpt drained six of her eight points, as well as Thayne nabbing two of her four rebounds in the period.

Titus notched nine points in a tight quarter that saw Mercer connect on just 25% of their shots from the field. Neal-Tysor's seven in the fourth helped cement the regular season-ending win. Mercer flipped the script from the previous quarter when they held the hosts to just 25% from the field.

Quotables – Head Coach Susie Gardner

On Shannon Titus' performance
"I thought Samford did a good job of focusing on Amoria and Erin. Shannon is very capable. She had a dual task of guarding the leading scorer in the conference and Cournoyer and did an amazing job. In addition, she scored her season-high tonight and played a solid, all-around game for us."

On Allie Thayne's performance
"She played exceptionally well. She doesn't get a lot of accolades, but she did a great job on defense for us tonight."

On adjustments prior to Asheville
"We got off to a great start. They came back and we fought. The downside that we have to work on before we go to Asheville is our rebounding. We got outrebounded 44-28, so we've got to put a bigger emphasis on that in these next few days.

I'm proud of this team. We've won 20 games and are the regular season champions, but it's time for the most important part of our season."

Notables
• Mercer capped its first 20-win season since 2018-19
• The 13-1 league mark is the third best since joining the SoCon behind 14-0 seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19

Up Next
Mercer will open postseason play in Asheville, N.C. versus Western Carolina in the 2022 SoCon Tournament. Tipoff with the Catamounts is slated for 11 a.m.

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