Mercer Heads To The Big Easy For Tulane Holiday Tournament

Saturday, December 20

New Orleans, La.

3:30 p.m.

Mercer University

Detroit Mercy

Mercer Heads To The Big Easy For Tulane Holiday Tournament

12/19/2025 2:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will put the finishing touches on its pre-Holiday schedule this weekend when the Bears pack up their show and head to New Orleans to take part in the Tulane Holiday Tournament inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena.

Mercer will open up its portion of round-robin tournament play on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET when it locks horns with Horizon League foe Detroit Mercy. The host Green Wave is slated to battle Delaware State on Saturday at noon.

The losers of both matchups will play in the event's consolation game on Sunday at noon, while the victors will meet in the championship bout on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Fans unable to make the trip to Louisiana can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the Tulane athletics department.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, December 20 Time: 3:30 p.m. ET Location: New Orleans, La. I Avron B. Fogelman Arena TV: None Live Statistics: MercerBears.com/Live Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

TICKETS
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting the Tulane athletics ticketing portal.

LAST TIME OUT
Ariana Bennett gave home-standing Mercer the lead for good on a tip-in just 20 seconds into the contest and the Bears registered their most lopsided victory in 45 years with a 91-37 win over visiting Erskine on Wednesday inside Hawkins Arena. It was the fourth-straight home win for Mercer who posted its largest margin of victory since a 133-42 (+81) win over Furman that opened the 1980-81 campaign. Stephanie Utomi led the Orange & Black with 24 points on 6-for-8 shooting, while freshman Remi-Hope Drantmann turned in a double-double with 24 points and 17 boards.

ABOUT THE BEARS
The Bears (7-5) continue to pace the 8-team Southern Conference in 3-point shooting percentage (33.5), while also turning in 13.8 offensive rebounds per game as well. Defensively, the Bears have tallied 9.9 steals per game on the way to limiting opponents to just 60.1 points an outing. Senior Ariana Bennett boasts a team-best 11.6 points per game on 43.9 field goal shooting this season, but has been complemented by backcourt mates Nahawa Diarra and Micah O'Dell who contribute 11.5 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. The go-to on the perimeter for the Orange & Black has been junior Abigail Holtman who ranks among the league's top 5 sharpshooters in both 3-point field goal attempts per game (5.5) and 3-point shooting percentage (38.6).

SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
The Titans (3-6) had their run of two-straight victories stopped with a 60-52 road setback at Robert Morris on Tuesday, and will be seeking their first win away from Detroit this weekend in New Orleans. Detroit Mercy ranks third among the 11 Horizon League squads in both free throws made (21.00) and attempted (21.78) through nine outings, and have forced nearly 19 turnovers an outing. UDM also draws more than 20 fouls per game as well. Veterans Makayla Jackson (11.9 points/game) and Jasmine Edwards (11.0) both headline the scoring column for the Titans, while Edwards also adds a team-best 5.6 rebounds per game.

MERCER/DETROIT MERCY SERIES
Saturday's matchup in the Big Easy will mark the first meeting between the Bears and Detroit Mercy.

ON DECK
The round-robin Tulane Holiday Tournament comes with a TBA for Sunday's games. Tulane will take on Delaware State in Saturday's opening game of the event, and the winner of that contest will face the winner of the Mercer/Detroit Mercy contest in Sunday's 2:30 p.m. ET championship game. The losing team in each of Saturday's contest will play for third place on Sunday at noon.

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.