Mercer Tangles With Visiting Georgia Southern On Thursday Night

MACON – The Mercer women's basketball team will finish off a season-opening two-game home stand on Thursday evening when the Bears suit up to do battle with Peach State rival Georgia Southern in a 7 p.m. contest inside Hawkins Arena.

Fans unable to make the trip to Middle Georgia can still follow all of the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the MU athletics department. The game is also scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN+ with Billy Andrews and Bill Connelly calling all of the action from courtside.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Thursday, November 5 Time: 5 p.m. ET Location: Macon, Ga. I Hawkins Arena TV: ESPN+ Live Statistics: MercerBears.com/Live Twitter Updates: @Mercer_WBB

TICKETS
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

LAST TIME OUT
Mercer forced 23 turnovers and utilized 35 points from its bench as the Bears offset a sluggish first half with a 54.8 percent shooting effort in the second stanza en route to a 69-41 victory over visiting North Greenville in its season opener on Monday evening in Hawkins Arena. Freshman Maliyah Lofton scored a game-best 24 points off the bench on 9-for-12 shooting in her Mercer debut, while also adding three assists and a pair of steals. The Ohio native did most of her damage in the last 20 minutes, tacking up 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including a pair of triples.

ABOUT THE BEARS
Mercer (1-0) returned a pair of starters and one other letterwinner off of last season's 17-win squad, including guard Abigail Holtman who averaged 9.3 points and 3.8 rebounds an outing across 26 games. Fellow senior Micah O'Dell, a 22-game starter for the Orange & Black last season, also returned after posting 9.0 points and 3.1 rebounds an outing in 2025-26. The trio is joined on the hardwood by five freshmen and five transfer scholar-athletes.

SCOUTING GEORGIA SOUTHERN
The Eagles (0-1) faltered in their season opener on Monday as Bowling Green used a big first half to key an 82-59 win over visiting Georgia Southern in northwest Ohio. First-year head coach Heather Macy returned just one starter from last season's 23-8 club that fell to Miami (Fla.) in the opening round of the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT). Sophomore Kayla Cleaveland, a Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference pick, started 20 games as a rookie last season and averaged 7.3 points and 3.4 points per game on 40.1 percent field goal shooting. Senior Kyla Bryant netted a team-best 23 points in Monday's setback to the Falcons.

MERCER/GEORGIA SOUTHERN SERIES
The Bears lead the 53-year-old series with Georgia Southern, 38-30, but had their six-game series win streak quelled with a 21-point road loss to the Eagles last season. Five of Mercer's last six victories in the series have come by double digits, including a pair of 20+-point road wins. Georgia Southern shot 64.5 percent from the field in the second half last year and used a big disparity in the rebounding column to key the 93-72 win over the Orange & Black.

UP NEXT
Mercer will take to the road for the first time this season on Sunday when the Bears trek to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on Atlantic Coast Conference foe Wake Forest (1-0). Tipoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. inside LJVM Coliseum.

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.

SUPPORT THE BEARS
Support the Mercer athletics department by making a gift to the Mercer Athletic Foundation. To find out more information about the Mercer Athletic Foundation, visit GiveMAF.com.

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Abigail Holtman

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