Bears Head To Furman On Thursday

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will play the first leg of its final road trip of the 2024-25 regular season on Thursday evening when the Bears trek to Greenville, S.C., to take on Southern Conference rival Furman inside Timmons Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Fans unable to make the trip to northwest South Carolina can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the Furman athletics department. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Thursday, February 20 Time: 7 p.m. ET Location: Greenville, S.C. I Timmons Arena TV: ESPN+ Live Statistics: MercerStats.com Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

ABOUT MERCER
Despite turning in their best shooting performance since a season-opening win over UNC Asheville, the Bears (7-18, 2-8 SoCon) saw their skid extended to three games with a 70-67 home setback to East Tennessee State on Saturday. MU battled all the way back from a 14-point deficit in the second quarter and tied the game with 11 seconds left to play, but the Bucs hit a go-ahead 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. Senior Ashlee Locke has reached double-digit scoring numbers in each of the last four games while shooting 57.9 percent (22-for-38) from the field … The post player has also 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game across that stretch as well … Junior Ariana Bennett is averaging 13.2 points and 3.7 boards an outing across her last six starts while also connecting on 49.2 percent (29-for-59) of her shot attempts … Senior Nahawa Diarra ranks third among SoCon players with 34.6 minutes played an outing, having played at least 35 minutes in each of her last eight starts. Mercer has dropped four of its last five road contests, but did tack up 33 fourth-quarter points amid a 71-66 comeback victory at Western Carolina on its last trip to the Carolinas … Mercer has registered a Southern Conference-best 3.3 blocks per game through 25 games, and has tacked up 5.0 blocks per game over its last five contests … MU's 53.2 percent shooting effort in Saturday's loss to East Tennessee State was its best shooting clip since connecting on 58.8 percent of its field goal attempts in the season-opening win over UNC Asheville. Mercer has captured 25 of the previous 33 matchups with Furman in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 season. The Paladins have taken two of the last three meetings, including a 57-47 triumph on January 25 in Macon, and took last year's matchup in Greenville, S.C., 58-56. Neither side has won consecutive games in the series since Furman won a 63-47 contest amid the 2010-11 campaign, as well as posted a 73-64 triumph two years later (2012-13).

SCOUTING FURMAN
The Paladins (13-13, 3-7 SoCon) have now dropped four of their last five outings following a 70-57 setback at Western Carolina on Saturday. Western Carolina shot nearly 53 percent from the field in that contest and bridged the first and second quarters with a 16-2 run, to fuel the final outcome. Senior guard Tata Walters ranks fourth among Southern Conference scorers with 12.8 points per game on 40.3 percent shooting, and has tacked up nearly 15 points an outing in league games this season … Walters has scored 10 or more points in 21 of her 26 starts, including a pair of 20+-point outings, and ranks second in the SoCon with 105 assists as well (4.0/game) … Junior Sydney Ryan has averaged 1.8 3-pointers per game (T-3^rd SoCon) and has connected on a team-best 48 triples in 2024-25. Furman leads the Southern Conference in both offensive rebounds per game (14.3) and rebounding margin (+6.1), and also ranks second among the eight league teams with 18.8 free throw attempts an outing … The Paladins have tacked up nearly 69 points per game (2^nd SoCon) in 2024-25, and have forced 18.2 turnovers per game as well … The Paladins have outscored opponents by 20.9 points per game in Greenville this season, while also shooting 45 percent from the field on their home floor as well.

ON DECK
Mercer will close out the road portion of its 2024-25 regular season schedule on Saturday when they make the short hop over to Spartanburg, S.C., to do battle with Southern Conference foe Wofford (15-8, 7-3 SoCon) inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Tipoff is slated for 6 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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ariana Bennett

Nahawa Diarra

Ashlee Locke

Footer