Bears Fall To ETSU In Home Finale

Saturday, February 11

Macon, Ga.

2 PM

Mercer University

10-14,6-5SoCon

East Tennessee State University

19-7,6-4SoCon

ETSU

Mercer

2/11/2023 7:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Poor second quarter hurt Bears, Houpt led all players with 13 points

MACON, Ga. – Erin Houpt led all players with 13 points, but the Bears as a team shot just 32 percent from the floor and a substandard second quarter hurt the Bears as ETSU claimed a 62-46 win on Senior Day Saturday.

Mercer led by one after the first quarter, but ETSU outscored the Bears 21-7 in the second to grab the momentum and take a 13-point lead at halftime.

ETSU got most of their scoring either in the paint where they had a 28-12 advantage or from behind the arc where they made six 3-pointers to Mercer's three.
Erin Houpt led all players with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting to go with three rebounds and two assists.

Enjulina Gonzalez was the other Mercer player to score in double figures as she had 10 points and seven rebounds, one shy of her career high. Defensively, Brittany Reeves had a career-high four blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first quarter was evenly played with the Bears jumping out to a 6-3 lead after a jumper from Gonzalez. Houpt had the last five points of the quarter for the Bears as her and Gonzalez combined to score all 13 of Mercer's first quarter points.

ETSU started the second quarter on a 12-0 run as Mercer's offense went cold in the, going 3-for-12 (25%) from the field in the quarter. Meanwhile, ETSU had its best quarter offensively scoring 21 points on 9-for-14 (64.3%) shooting and made half of its 3-pointers in the game in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, two free throws from Kassidy Jones got Mercer within seven at 37-30. However, the Bears were unable to continue to cut into the deficit as they had just two points over the final 4:54 of the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, a 7-0 Mercer run in just over a minute brought Mercer within 12 at 52-40 with over five minutes to play, but ETSU held off the Mercer rally for its sixth win in its last seven games.

NOTABLES

The Bears had nine turnovers, the second consecutive game they have kept their turnovers under 10.
Graduate student, Brittany Reeves had a career-high four blocks on Senior Day.
Enjulina Gonzalez had four assists, she has had at least four assists in five of her past seven games.

SENIOR DAY
Following the game, Brittany Reeves, Jaron Dougherty, and Amoria Neal-Tysor were recognized for Senior Day. All three are graduate students. Dougherty and Neal-Tysor each in their fifth season at Mercer. Reeves, a Macon native transferred to Mercer last offseason.

UP NEXT:
The Bears will play their final three games of the season on the road, beginning on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. ET against Samford.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @Mercer_WBB (Twitter), /MercerWBB (Facebook) and @Mercer_wbb (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.