Bears Head To Mississippi For Midweek Tussle Against Jackson State

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will play the second leg of a three-game road trip on Wednesday when the Bears load the buses and head to Mississippi for a midweek clash against Jackson State. Tipoff is scheduled for noon ET inside the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.

Fans unable to make the trip to the Magnolia State can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the JSU athletics department. The game is also scheduled to be broadcast live on the SWAC Network.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Wednesday, November 19 Time: Noon ET Location: Jackson, Miss. I Williams Athletics and Assembly Center TV: SWAC Network Live Statistics: MercerBears.com/Live Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

TICKETS
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling the Jackson State athletic ticketing portal or by calling the box office at (601) 979-0845.

LAST TIME OUT
Visiting Mercer drained a season-best seven 3-pointers and turned in a dominant performance on the offensive glass, but home-standing Wake Forest shot 45.3 percent from the field and used six-straight points in the fourth quarter to take the lead for good on the way to holding off the Bears, 66-61, on Thursday evening in LJVM Coliseum. Senior Nahawa Diarra registered an MU career-best 21 points on, while also adding six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

ABOUT THE BEARS
The Bears (2-2) have held opponents to a Southern Conference-low 58.3 points per game this season, and boast the league's best turnover margin (+2.25) through four outings as well. Newcomer Micah O'Dell (12.8) and senior Nahawa Diarra (10.8) both boast double-digit scoring averages, while sophomore Stephanie Utomi has logged a team-best 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals an outing despite coming in off of the bench in the first three games.

SCOUTING JACKSON STATE
Jackson State (1-2) has registered 19.7 offensive rebounds per game (11^th NCAA) through three outings, while also amassing 41.0 bench points per game (10^th). Defensively, the Tigers showcase the nation's 13^th-best steals per game (13.0) squad, while also holding opponents to just 60.3 points an outing. JSU rolled to a 117-40 win over Mississippi University for Women in its season opener, but have now dropped back-to-back outings against Tennessee Tech (59-53) and at Mississippi State (82-55). Senior Leianya Massenat and rookie Pierre-Noelle Tcheuhchoua both average a team-best 11.3 points per game despite both averaging just less than 22 minutes per game on the floor.

MERCER/JACKSON STATE SERIES
The Tigers have split two previous meetings with Mercer, but got on the board in the series with a 66-54 victory at Hawkins Arena last season. Mercer captured the initial matchup between the two squads, 80-48, on Nov. 21, 2014 in Macon.

ON DECK
The Bears will close out their three-game road trip on Saturday when they make the short trip to Statesboro to battle Georgia Southern in the Jack and Ruth Hill Convocation Center. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. Mercer is set to return to Hawkins Arena on Tuesday when they lace up to battle Florida A&M at 7 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 Head To Mississippi For Midweek Tussle Against Jackson State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nahawa Diarra

Micah O'Dell

Stephanie Utomi

Footer

Mercer University Athletics