Jacksonville State Pulls Away Late, Holds Off Mercer

Saturday, December 6

Jacksonville, Ala.

3:30 p.m.

Mercer University

5-5,0-0SoCon

Jacksonville State

3-5,0-0CUSA

Mercer

Jacksonville St.

Jacksonville State Pulls Away Late, Holds Off Mercer

12/6/2025 6:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Jacksonville State shot better than 46 percent from the field in the second half and used a 7-0 scoring spurt in the fourth quarter to pull away for good on the way to a 72-62 victory over the visiting Bears on Saturday afternoon in Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The setback marked the final leg of a three-game road trip for the Bears (5-5) who tallied 32 points in the paint on the afternoon, while also getting 19 points from its bench. The triumph snapped a two-game skid for the Gamecocks (3-5) who used 15 offensive rebounds to fuel 19 second-chance points.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Jacksonville State 72, Mercer 62
RECORDS: Mercer 5-5 (0-0 SoCon); Campbell 3-5 (0-0 CUSA)
LOCATION: Jacksonville, Ala. (Pete Mathews Coliseum)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

Despite a punch-for-punch game through the first 2-1/2 minutes of play, Jacksonville State used a 3-pointer from Mya Barnes at the 7:33 mark to spark an 8-0 scoring run that gave the hosts some breathing room. The Bears cut their deficit back to just one point, 20-19, following a short jumper from Abigail Holtman five minutes later, but Jacksonville State got a pair of baskets in the final 55 seconds, including another trey from Barnes, to forge a 25-19 advantage through 10 minutes of play.

2ND QUARTER

Mercer used an early surge in the second quarter to eventually take a one-point lead, 28-27, on Nahawa Diarra's 3-pointer midway through, and the teams fought tooth and nail after that through the halftime buzzer. Brooklyn McDaniel's second-chance lay-up with eight ticks left gave JSU a slight 33-32 edge heading into intermission.

3RD QUARTER

The Gamecocks used their perimeter play to gain an edge in a third quarter that watched them can nearly 43 percent of their shot attempts. JSU went 4-for-7 from behind the arc in the stanza, including a triple from Mina Djurdjevic with 2:58 remaining that put the hosts up by seven points, 48-41. The Bears scored the last four points of the period to make it a two-possession game, 51-47, heading to the fourth quarter.

4TH QUARTER

Jacksonville State took a 55-47 lead on Makala Hobdy's running layup just less than 90 seconds into the final period, but Mercer tacked up the game's next seven points to eventually pull to within one point, 55-54, with 6-1/2 minutes remaining. The Gamecocks answered with a 12-3 run over the next five minutes to all but put the game away, however.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Newcomer Talia Kemp scored a team-high 12 points on 5-for-10 field goal shooting, while also turning in two rebounds, a pair of steals and one block.
+ Senior Ariana Bennett scored 10 points to cross the 1,000-point plateau for her career. Bennett, who has now tallied 1,001 points across three different collegiate stops, also recorded a team-best eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
+ Nahawa Diarra added nine points on a 4-for-7 clip from the field. She registered two boards and a steal as well.

NOTABLES

+ The Bears went 12-for-15 (.800) from the charity stripe on Saturday and have now connected on at least 80 percent of their free throws in four contests this season.
+ Mercer collected a season-high 28 defensive rebounds at Jacksonville State, while also matching a season-high with four blocks as well.
+ Jacksonville State has now captured two of the last eight matchups with the Bears. Saturday's contest marked the first meeting between the two former Atlantic Sun Conference rivals since the 2015-16 campaign.

UP NEXT

The Bears will get a week-long hiatus from competition before opening up a two-game home stand on December 14 against Mississippi Valley State (1-6) in Hawkins Arena. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

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BACK THE BEARS

Fans can help support the Mercer athletics department by making a gift to the Mercer Athletic Foundation. To find out more information about the Mercer Athletic Foundation, email maf@mercer.edu.