Mercer Falls 63-59 In OT To UNCG In SoCon Tournament

Thursday, March 2

Asheville, N.C.

1:15 PM

Mercer University

12-16,8-6SoCon

#4 UNC Greensboro

16-13,8-6SoCon

OT 1

Mercer

UNC Greensboro

Mercer Falls 63-59 In OT To UNCG In SoCon Tournament

3/2/2023 5:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Amoria Neal-Tysor led all players with 18 points

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer women's basketball team mounted a fourth quarter comeback to force overtime but came up short as UNCG advanced to the SoCon Tournament semifinals with a 63-59 win in overtime Thursday from Asheville.

The Bears erased a seven-point deficit to begin the fourth quarter to force overtime. UNCG outscored Mercer 8-4 in overtime with six of their eight points coming from the free throw line.

Each team had to earn it offensively as the Bears and Spartans each had nine steals in the game. Enjulina Gonzalez led the Bears with a career-high four steals.

In her last game in a Mercer uniform, Amoria Neal-Tysor led all scorers with 18 points to go with four rebounds.

Gonzalez was the other Mercer player in double-figures with 14 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

After missing the last four games of the regular season, Summah Evans returned to the court for the Bears. She had seven points, five rebounds, three blocks, and one steal in the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED
UNCG scored the first eight points of the game. An Ashlee Locke jump shot with 3:59 to play in the first quarter was Mercer's first field goal of the game. However, Mercer's defense allowed the Bears to be within five after Locke's jump shot.

Neal-Tysor and Locke combined to score 10 of Mercer's 13 first quarter points as the Bears trailed 16-13 after the opening 10 minutes.

Trailing 27-18 with under four minutes to play in the second quarter, the Bears would close the first half on an 8-2 run to make it a one possession game going into half at 29-26.

Gonzalez scored all eight of the points for Mercer during the run and went 5-for-5 from the field with 10 points in the second quarter.

UNCG pushed their lead to 39-29 through the first five minutes of the third quarter. Neal-Tysor would score six of Mercer's final 10 points over the closing minutes of the third quarter as the Bears found themselves down 46-39 going into the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer by Evans, followed by a steal from Jaron Dougherty and a layup the other way for Evans quickly made it a 46-44 game not even one minute into the fourth quarter.

The Bears continued to climb back in the game in the fourth quarter with their defense not allowing a made field goal from UNCG over the final six minutes of regulation.

Trailing 55-54, Gonzalez was fouled shooting a jump shot with five seconds remaining. She made 1-of-2 free throws to force overtime.

In overtime, Mercer scored the first four points and held the Spartans scoreless over the first four minutes of overtime.

Trailing 59-55 with 58 seconds remaining, UNCG grabbed an offensive rebound of a missed free throw and earned a 3-point trip to make it 59-58.

The Spartans got a defensive stop, and the Bears fouled the Spartans on a loose ball putting UNCG at the free throw line where they took advantage making both to take a 60-59 lead.

UNCG got one more defensive stop to hold on for the win.

COACH GARDNER ON THE GAME
"It pretty much was a microcosm of the season. The ups and downs. The ebbs and flows. We had a chance to win. A lot of credit goes to UNC Greensboro. They've been playing great basketball. They've won five straight, now six. We got off to a really slow start, but then we fought back. Enjulina got hot in the first half. We had another [scoring] run to get it to overtime, which I'm proud of that. There's a lot things to be proud of this whole year, this whole game."

AMORIA NEAL-TYSOR ON PHYSICALITY OF THE GAME
"We knew UNCG was going to be physical. We knew that from the beginning from when we played them earlier in the regular season, so this game was about not succumbing to their physicality and fighting back. I think we showed that in some stretches, but as you saw in the end when we needed those crucial rebounds they were being more physical than us."

NOTABLES

Mercer outrebounded UNCG 43-32, and 21-8 in offensive rebounds.
UNCG made one field goal over the final 11 minutes of game action (including overtime).
UNCG went 0-for-8 from 3-point range. The first conference opponent Mercer held without a made 3-pointer.
Mercer's nine steals were tied for the most in a conference game this season.

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.