First-Half Shooting Hampers Mercer In Loss At Samford

Saturday, February 14

Birmingham, Ala.

3 p.m.

Mercer University

15-10,5-5SoCon

Samford

11-16,4-6SoCon

Mercer

Samford

First-Half Shooting Hampers Mercer In Loss At Samford

2/14/2026 8:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Visiting Mercer registered just a trio of buckets through the first 20 minutes and was unable to dig its way out of a 21-point halftime deficit on the way to a 68-48 loss at Samford on Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.

The decision put the kibosh on a three-game win streak for the Bears (15-10, 5-5 SoCon) who committed just two turnovers in the opening half, but countered their ball control with a 3-for-27 shooting effort. It was the third-straight win for the Bulldogs (11-16, 4-6) who ran their home win streak out to three games as well.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Samford 68, Mercer 48
RECORDS: Mercer 15-10 (5-5 SoCon); Samford 11-16 (4-6 SoCon)
LOCATION: Birmingham, Ala. (Pete Hanna Center)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

The Bears cut into an early six-point deficit with a pair of free throws from Rania Curry at the 7:43 mark, but Samford tacked up eight of the game's next nine points to push its lead out to double digits, 16-5, five minutes later. The Bulldogs canned half (7-for-14) of their field goal attempts through the first 10 minutes of play, while MU exhibited just 2-for-12 (.167) shooting.

2ND QUARTER

The offensive story was much of the same in the second quarter as the hosts used a 54.5 percent shooting effort to pad its advantage out to 32-11 heading into the locker rooms. Elena Cabello's running layup just 17 seconds into the stanza made it a two-possession game, 16-10, but Briana Rivera's 3-pointer on the other end of the court sparked the Bulldogs on a 16-1 run that ended the half.

3RD QUARTER

The Bears turned the table on their shooting fortunes in the third period and outscored the hosts 22-16 in the frame to whittle away at their deficit. Samford led by 26 points, 39-13, following Briana Rivera's triple at the 6:56 mark, but Mercer scored the next 12 points to throw some doubt into the final outcome. A 3-pointer from Micah O'Dell with 21 seconds left made it a 48-33 contest heading to the fourth quarter.

4TH QUARTER

Samford slammed the door on any potential comeback effort with a 9-for-14 (.643) shooting display in the final period. MU pulled to within a dozen points, 52-40, on two free throws from Talia Kemp with 6-1/2 minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs made good on seven of their final 11 shots of the afternoon to ice the outcome.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Senior Nahawa Diarra scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half, while also turning in five rebounds, an assist and one steal.
+ Freshman Rania Curry added 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting, while also contributing two rebounds and a steal.
+ Senior Ariana Bennett came off of the bench to tally six points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

NOTABLES

+ The Bears shot just 3-for-27 (.111) from the field in the opening half, but countered that with 42.9 percent (12-for-28) shooting in the second half.
+ Mercer committed seven turnovers on Saturday – their second-best ball control game of the season – including just two turnovers in the opening half. The Bears also finished with single-digit turnovers in losses to Clemson (6) and Georgia Southern (9).
+ Saturday's loss in Birmingham, Ala., snapped a three-game win streak for MU, their second-longest winning skein of the campaign.

UP NEXT

Mercer will resume its four-game road trip on February 19 when it heads to Spartanburg, S.C., to take on Wofford (14-11, 8-3 SoCon) at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Start time has been set for 11 a.m.

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BACK THE BEARS

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