Bears Visit East Tennessee State On Thursday Evening

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will open up a two-game swing through the Volunteer State on Thursday evening when the Bears trek to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on Southern Conference rival East Tennessee State in Brooks Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Fans unable to make the trip to eastern Tennessee can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the ETSU athletics department. The game is also scheduled to be broadcasted live on ESPN+.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Thursday, January 16 Time: 7 p.m. ET Location: Johnson City, Tenn. I Brooks Gymnasium TV: ESPN+ Live Statistics: MercerStats.com Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB Game Notes: Mercer I ETSU

ABOUT THE BEARS
Mercer (6-10, 1-0 SoCon) has now registered consecutive victories for the first time in 2024-25 following Saturday's comeback win over visiting Samford in Hawkins Arena. Senior Nahawa Diarra notched her first career double-double with 15 points and 10 boards and Mercer offset a nine-point deficit midway through the second period with 41 percent shooting in the second half to fuel the 56-53 final. Diarra has been on fire as of late, averaging 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game over her last two starts. The New Mexico transfer turned in 14 points and five rebounds in Mercer's win at Kennesaw State on December 30 before registering an all-everything game against the Bulldogs. Diarra has connected on 45.4 percent (10-for-22) of her field goal attempts over the last two games as well. The Bears have forced nearly 18 turnovers (17.6) an outing in their seven previous road games this season, including 20 or more turnovers in three of those outings … MU continues to pace the Southern Conference in free throws made per game (13.6), and rank second among the eight league squads with just 14.9 fouls an outing. MU leads the all-time series with East Tennessee State, 27-22, and will bring a two-game series win streak into Thursday's matchup in Johnson City. Mercer dropped the first four matchups in the series after it joined the Southern Conference prior to the 2014-15 campaign, but has since posted a 14-4 mark against ETSU, while also winning seven of the last nine matchups with the Bucs in Johnson City.

ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The Buccaneers (9-8, 0-2 SoCon) have now dropped three of their last four contests following Sunday's 64-60 setback at Western Carolina. ETSU scored 15 points off of 19 turnovers by the Catamounts, but Western Carolina shot 44 percent from the field and went 17-for-20 from the free throw line to key the final outcome. Senior guard Courtney Moore has posted double-digit scoring numbers in four-straight games, including 13 in Sunday's loss at Western Carolina. Senior Braylyn Milton (12.1 ppg) and Moore (11.4) bring impressive scoring averages into Thursday's contest, and both frontcourt players have connected on at least 76 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe as well this season. ETSU has limited its opponents to just 38.1 percent field goal shooting (3^rd SoCon) in 2024-25, and will bring the league's second-best scoring defense (56.3 points/game allowed) into the midweek matchup as well … The Buccaneers have lost the rebounding battle in 11 contests this season despite turning in 11.1 offensive boards an outing.

ON DECK
The Bears will close out a two-game road trip on Saturday when they make the short 216-mile hop southwest to battle defending Southern Conference champion Chattanooga (6-9, 1-1 SoCon) in McKenzie Arena. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.

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

Bears Visit East Tennessee State On Thursday Evening

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Players Mentioned

Nahawa Diarra

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