Bears Visit Western Carolina On Saturday

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will wrap up a two-game swing through the Tar Heel State on Saturday when the Bears trek to Cullowhee, N.C., to battle Southern Conference foe Western Carolina at Ingles Court. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, February 1 Time: 1 p.m. ET Location: Cullowhee, N.C. I Ingles Court TV: ESPN+ Live Statistics: Sidearm Stats Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

ABOUT MERCER
The Bears (6-15, 1-5 SoCon) were on the wrong end of a 70-37 decision at UNC Greensboro and have now dropped five-straight games, including three road contests against league foes. The Spartans scored 26 points off of 16 Mercer turnovers and bridged the second and third quarters with a 25-5 run to fuel the final outcome. Freshman Talia Harris has now produced double-digit scoring numbers in six of her last eight starts, including a team-best 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting in Thursday's loss at UNC Greensboro … Although saddled with two fouls in the first six minutes of Thursday's game in Fleming Gym, junior Ariana Bennett still managed to chip in 10 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter … Senior Nahawa Diarra has played 36 or more minutes in five of Mercer's last six games. MU has held a dozen opponents to sub-40 percent shooting this season, and has forced 15 or more turnovers in nine contests … The Bears boast the SoCon's second-best shot-blocking squad (3.0 blocks/game), and rank third among the eight league teams in fouls committed/game (14.7) as well. Mercer boasts 28 victories in its 29-game-old series with Western Carolina, and will ride an 11-game series win streak into Saturday's matchup with the Catamounts … WCU's only in the series came via a 51-40 home win over the Bears on Feb. 1, 2020 … Twelve of MU's 28 victories in the series have come by 20 or more points, while the Bears have registered 30-plus point wins over Western Carolina on five occasions.

SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA
The Catamounts (11-10, 1-5 SoCon) have now dropped four-straight games (5 of last 6) following Saturday's 90-86 double-overtime loss to Samford on Ingles Court. AC Carter canned a jumper with 21 seconds left in regulation to send the game into extra time, while Samford's Sierra Godbolt connected on a layup with 12 seconds left in the first overtime to knot the game up again. The Bulldogs scored the first six points in the second extra period, however, to turn the tide for good. Graduate student AC Carter has scored 10 or more points in 18 of her 21 starts this season, and paces the Southern Conference with 15.1 points per game on 43.4 percent field goal shooting … Carter has been even better in league play, shooting 47.5 percent from the field against SoCon competition while tallying 17.0 points an outing … Sophomore Tyja Beans has shouldered a bulk of the workload for WCU as well, registering 12.7 points and a team-best 8.6 rebounds an outing. Western Carolina will tote the Southern Conference's top offensive team in Saturday's contest … The Catamounts lead the eight-team league in scoring (73.7 points/game), field goal percentage (.449) and free throw percentage (.757) … WCU also records a SoCon-best 13.7 made free throws per game as well … The Catamounts have shot better than 45 percent from the field at home this season, and outscored their previous 10 opponents in their home arena by 16.1 points an outing.

ON DECK
Mercer will close out a three-game road trip on February 8 when it travels to Birmingham, Ala., to take on league nemesis Samford (7-15, 2-4 SoCon) inside the Pete Hanna Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.

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.

Players Mentioned

Ariana Bennett

Nahawa Diarra

Talia Harris

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Bears Visit Western Carolina On Saturday

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