Wofford Holds On To Defeat Mercer, 65-64

Thursday, January 25

Spartanburg, S.C.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

8-13,2-3SoCon

Wofford

11-7,3-1SoCon

Mercer

Wofford

1/25/2024 8:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Deja Williams led Mercer with 24 points

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Deja Williams scored a season high 24 points, but Mercer was edged on the road at Wofford, 65-64 Thursday night from Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.

Each team had similar shooting numbers on the night as Mercer shot 36.8 percent from the floor and Wofford, 34.1 percent. The Bears owned the rebounding edge 52-36 and had twice as many offensive ebounds as Wofford, 22-11.

Williams and Wofford's Rachael Rose each led their teams respectively as Williams scored her season high 24 points on 9-for-20 (45.0%) shooting to go with six assists and four rebounds. Rose led all scorers with 32 points on 8-of-12 shooting and went 14-for-14 from the free-throw line.

Stacie Jones had her fifth double-double of the season as she had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

Mercer started out strong defensively and led 8-2 midway throught the first quarter. Neither team could get in much of a rhythm offensively as Mercer led 12-8 after the first quarter.

2ND QUARTER

In the second quarter, Maria Serracanta came up with a steal and scored on the other end to give Mercer a 16-15 lead. After a couple of free throws from Wofford's Rachael Rose, Williams drained a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to send the Bears into halftime trailing by one at 22-21.

3RD QUARTER

The Bears trailed 31-29 in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but a couple of threes from Williams and a bucket from Stacie Jones was part of an 8-0 Mercer run to take a 37-31 lead. Mercer would take a 41-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

4TH QUARTER

A jump shot from Ashlee Locke gave Mercer a 48-47 lead with more than seven minutes to play. Wofford was able to take a slight lead midway through the quarter at 54-51. Mackenzie Johnson knocked down two free throws with just over two minutes to play which made it 62-59, Wofford. The score remained the same and Mercer had the ball out of a timeout but came up empty on the possession as Wofford knocked down its free throws and held on to win, 65-64.

NOTES

Mercer followed up its season high 53 rebound performance against Western Carolina with 52 rebounds against the Terriers.
Wofford was just 28.6 percent from three-point range. The Bears have held their last three opponents to under 30 percent shooting from deep.
Williams' nine made field goals were a season high for her.
Cianté Downs had her second consecutive game with 10 or more rebounds as she had 11 on the night.

COACH GARDNER QUOTES

On Difference In The Game:
"There was a stretch where they hit some big threes back-to-back. It was a back and forth game. I thought our team gave great effort. They gave everything that they had. Obviously Rachael Rose is a great player. We put our two best defenders on her and she still had 32 points. We didn't have enough productivity offensively. It wasn't balanced enough on our end and we didn't get stops during that stetch where they hit two threes back-to-back. I'm disappointed for our kids. I thought they gave it their all, but we've proven that we've gotten better, but we just need more productivity on the offensive end."

On Deja Williams' Performance:
"Deja was the one who had the guts to take the shot and make the shot and so I kept running plays to her, but that's what I'm saying that we needed a little bit more balance across the line, but I'm really proud of Deja. I'm really proud of Cianté. I thought Cianté played her butt off. She played great defense, got rebounds for us."

UP NEXT
Mercer travels to Greenville, South Carolina to play Furman Saturday. Tip off is at 2 p.m.

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