Mercer Bench Outstanding in 55-52 Win At NC A&T

Saturday, December 9

Greensboro, N.C.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

4-8,0-0SoCon

North Carolina A&T

3-5,0-0CAA

Mercer

N.C. A&T

Mercer Bench Outstanding in 55-52 Win At NC A&T

12/9/2023 4:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Aspen Johnson had a career-high 15 points

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Mercer outscored North Carolina A&T 20-12 in the fourth quarter to comeback and defeat the Aggies in Greensboro, 55-52 Saturday afternoon.

The Mercer bench came up huge on the day, outscoring North Carolina A&T's bench 28-4. Aspen Johnson and Ashlee Locke combined for 20 of those 28 bench points for the Bears.

Johnson had a career-high 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists. Locke added seven points with five rebounds. She made two clutch free throws in the fourth quarter to put Mercer up 55-52 with nine seconds to play.

The Bears also won the rebounding battle 42-34 with eight players recording at least three rebounds. Mercer was 4-for-11 (36%) from three-point range and the Aggies were just 3-for-16 (19%) from deep.

HOW IT HAPPENED
North Carolina A&T got off to a fast start, taking a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game. A three-pointer from Hanna Knoll made it a 14-9 lead for the Aggies. Johnson closed out the quarter with back-to-back buckets to make it a 16-13 lead for North Carolina A&T after the first quarter.

Trailing 21-16 in the second quarter, Mackenzie Johnson scored six straight points for the Bears to bring Mercer within one at 23-22. A fastbreak layup from Briana Peguero gave Mercer its first lead of the game at 26-25. The Bears would go into halftime trailing 27-26.

In the third quarter, the Aggies were able to get a little bit of separation from the Bears as they took a 28-31 lead with just over three minutes to play in the quarter. The Bears were just 2-for-13 from the field in the third quarter but were down just five points heading into the fourth quarter.

Mercer came out flying to start the fourth quarter, going on a 10-0 run to take a 45-40 lead within the opening minutes of the quarter. The Aggies quickly tied it at 47 with five minutes to play.

Then, the Mercer defense came up with stop after stop over as North Carolina A&T went nearly five minutes without a point as Mercer took a 52-47 lead with 35 seconds to play. Leading 53-52 with 15 seconds to play, Locke was fouled and made both free throws to put Mercer up three. North Carolina missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds and Mercer held on for the win.

NOTES

The Bears got the win despite only making 19 field goals in the game, the second fewest made field goals in a game this season for the Bears
North Carolina A&T shot 18.8% from three. Mercer's third opponent to shoot under 20% from three in a game this season
Mercer had 15 turnovers to the Aggies' 12. That is the first win this season for Mercer in which it had more turnovers than its opponent
Locke had three blocks which was the most by a Mercer player in a game this season
Mercer shot three times as many free throws as North Carolina A&T, 18-6

COACH GARDNER QUOTES

On the strong performance from the bench:
"We got down 10-2 and I put in our second team. I just felt like they came in and played harder. They got us back in the game quite honestly. Without them who knows what the score would've been. Aspen had some big baskets for us. Ashlee held their second leading scorer, Clark, for 2-for-9 shooting with six points. She did a great job defensively and hit the big free throws. It took every single on of us for sure."

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