Mercer Hosts East Tennessee State To Kick Off Saturday Home Doubleheader

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will wrap up a short two-game home stand on Saturday when the Bears suit up to take on East Tennessee State in the front half of a 2 p.m. women's and men's basketball doubleheader inside Hawkins Arena. Tickets are still available for both games and can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

Fans unable to make the trip to Macon can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the Mercer athletics department. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+, and is also scheduled to hit the airwaves on the Sportsmic App with veteran broadcaster Rick Cameron handling the play-by-play duties.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, February 15 Time: 2 p.m. ET Location: Macon, Ga. I Hawkins Arena TV: ESPN+ Live Statistics: MercerStats.com Listen Live: Mercer Sports Network – Sportsmic Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

ABOUT MERCER
The Bears (7-17, 2-7 SoCon) dropped their second-straight game on Thursday with a 69-39 setback to defending Southern Conference champion Chattanooga in Hawkins Arena. The Mocs scored 19 points off of 15 Mercer turnovers and shot better than 47 percent from the field to fuel the final outcome. Junior Ariana Bennett continues to lead the charge for the Bears in the scoring column, averaging 10.5 points per game on 43.4 percent field goal shooting through 24 games … The junior from Edwardsville is the only Mercer player to start in all 24 games this season … Senior Ashlee Locke has reached double-digit scoring numbers in three-straight games, but has also tacked up 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2.7 assists across that stretch … Locke has tallied four blocks twice in the last three games, including a quartet of swats on Thursday against Chattanooga. Mercer paces all eight Southern Conference teams with 3.3 blocks per game and has posted 4.0 blocks per game over its last four outings … The Bears will also tote the SoCon's third-best free throw percentage (.731) into Saturday's contest, and have committed the league's second-fewest fouls per game (14.5) … MU also ranks fourth-best among SoCon squads in both turnovers per game (14.5), and is listed fifth among the eight teams in scoring defense (63.5 points/game allowed). Mercer leads the all-time series with the Bucs, 27-23, and is 11-9 all-time against East Tennessee State in Hawkins Arena … The home team has captured the last two meetings in the series, with ETSU boasting the last road win in the series via a 62-46 triumph over the Bears in Macon on Feb. 11, 2023 … Only 12 of the 50 previous meetings in the series were decided by less than 10 points, including three that came down to a single possession … ETSU handed the visiting Bears a 70-46 loss earlier this season (January 16) in Johnson City, Tenn.

SCOUTING EAST TENNESSEE STATE
The Bucs (14-11, 5-5 SoCon) have now dropped two-straight games following Thursday's 50-43 road loss to Samford. East Tennessee State combined for just 17 points in the second half, including just four points in the third period, to cement the outcome. ETSU's also shot a season-low 27 percent from the field in that outing as well. Senior guard Courtney Moore ranks fourth among the Southern Conference's leading scorers this season th 12.9 points per game, and also ranks among the league's top 10 players with an 82.1 success rate from the free throw line … Moore has tacked up 10 or more points in 12-straight games dating back to the December 21 contest with Florida Gulf Coast … Senior guard Braylyn Miller has reached double-figure scoring numbers in 11 of her last 15 outings, including three 20+-point performances … Miller is shooting 40.1 percent (71-for-177) across that 15-game span as well. The Bucs have forced a Southern Conference-best 13.7 turnovers per game this season and rank 46^th, nationally, with a +4.2 turnover margin … East Tennessee State also ranks among the nation's top 25 teams in both scoring defense (55.4 points/game allowed) and perimeter defense (.269) … ETSU won consecutive road games for the first time this season with triumphs at both Furman and Wofford to bridge January and February, but had that winning skein snapped with Thursday's loss at Samford.

ON DECK
The Bears will play their final two regular season road games next week when they travel to both Furman (13-12, 3-6 SoCon) on Thursday and Wofford (15-7, 7-2) on Saturday.

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.

Mercer Hosts East Tennessee State To Kick Off Saturday Home Doubleheader

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Players Mentioned

Ariana Bennett

Ashlee Locke

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