Bears Fall Short in 64-58 Loss To Tulane

Sunday, November 19

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

1-4,0-0SoCon

Tulane

3-1,0-0AAC

Tulane

Mercer

11/19/2023 5:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Coach Gardner Postgame

Mercer held Tulane to just 3-for-20 from three-point range

MACON, Ga. - The Mercer women's basketball team couldn't finish the job in the fourth quarter against Tulane as the Green wave squeezed out a 64-58 win over the Bears Sunday afternoon from Hawkins Arena.

Mercer led 44-43 going into the fourth quarter, but Tulane outscored the Bears 21-14 in the final quarter to grab the win in non-conference action.

The Bears held Tulane to just 18-of-57 (32%) shooting from the field, and the Green Wave were just 3-for-20 (15%) from three-point range. However, the Green Wave did most of their damage from getting offensive rebounds and getting to the free throw line. The Green Wave had 21 offensive rebounds to Mercer's 12 and were 25-for-32 (78%) from the free throw line.

Mercer made a season-high nine three-pointers on 27 attempts, but shot 21-for-55 (38%) from the field. Mackenzie Johnson led the Bears with 12 points and Deja Williams was the other Bear in double figures with 11 points. Aspen Johnson added eight points and five rebounds for the Bears.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Briana Peguero and Deja Williams each made a three-pointer in the first quarter to give the Bears an 8-4 lead early in the quarter. Tulane would then take a 9-8 lead before Hanna Knoll made the third three-pointer of the quarter for the Bears to give Mercer an 11-9 lead after the opening quarter.

Tulane quickly took a 14-11 lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter, however Peguero and Maria Serracanta would continue the three-point barrage for the Bears to put Mercer back in front 17-14. An and-one from Serracanta made it 25-21 Mercer with just over two minutes to play in the second quarter. Mercer would take a 28-25 lead into halftime.

Mercer started fast to open the third quarter, going on an 8-4 run to extend its lead to seven points at 36-29. Tulane responded by going on a 10-1 run themselves to take a 39-37 lead. Williams' third made three-pointer gave Mercer a 42-39 lead with three minutes to play in the third quarter. The Bears would take a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Trailing 48-45, Tulane would go on a 10-0 run to take a 55-48 lead with just over one minute to play. Each team struggled to make shots in the fourth quarter as Tulane was just 2-for-10 (20%) and Mercer 5-for-14 (35.7%). However, Tulane got to the foul line, with 22 attempts in the fourth quarter compared to Mercer's two attempts from the line, with some of their attempts coming in the final minute as Mercer fouled to try to extend the game.

NOTES

Mercer made a season-high nine three-pointers on the day
Mercer held Tulane to just 31.6 percent shooting, Mercer's lowest opponent field goal percentage allowed this season
Mackenzie Johnson was 5-for-7 (71.4%) from the field her best field goal percentage this season
Bench points were 19-10 in favor of the Bears

COACH GARDNER QUOTES

Opening Statement:
"I felt like the difference in the game was their offensive rebounds. They had 54 percent offensive rebound percentage and you're not going to beat a team doing that, and also they got to the free throw line. I know we fouled them at the end because we had to, but they still got to the free throw line and scored 25 points from the free throw line. I felt like our defensive effort was there per se but we didn't finish the play. The other part of the equation is we are not scoring very many points right now either, so we've got to figure that part of the equation out as well."

On facing zone defenses:
"We've actually seen zone almost every game this year and I think that's going to continue because our post game right now is our strength and that's what you do. Right now we are not shooting the ball very well from outside consistently. So we are going to see zone and we've got to continue to work on that. We also have to knock down open shots, but one thing we can do is rebound defensively and push it down the floor before the other team gets set up in their zone and when we started doing that we did a pretty good job, but we just weren't getting enough rebounds."

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