East Tennessee State Holds Off Late Push, Downs Bears In Macon

Thursday, February 26

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

16-12,6-7SoCon

East Tennessee State

16-12,9-4SoCon

ETSU

Mercer

East Tennessee State Holds Off Late Push, Downs Bears In Macon

2/26/2026 9:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – Mercer trimmed a 13-point deficit in the third quarter down to just two points near the midway point in the fourth period, but visiting East Tennessee State held the Bears scoreless over the game's final six minutes on the way to a 58-51 triumph on Thursday evening at Hawkins Arena.

It was the third loss in the last four outings for Mercer (16-12, 6-7 SoCon) who is slated to close out the regular season portion of its 2025-26 schedule on Saturday against Southern Conference-leading Chattanooga at home. East Tennessee State (16-12, 9-4) has now captured nine of its last 10 games, with its lone setback coming to the Orange & Black two weeks ago in Johnson City, Tenn.

THE BASICS

SCORE: East Tennessee State 58, Mercer 51
RECORDS: Mercer 16-12 (6-7 SoCon); East Tennessee State 16-12 (9-4 SoCon)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Hawkins Arena)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

Both teams shot better than 44 percent from the field amid a back-and-forth game in a first quarter that featured eight lead changes. Anala Nelson hit a stepback jumper with a minute remaining in the stanza, but Rania Curry's jumper 24 seconds later gave the hosts a 19-18 edge through the first 10 minutes of action.

2ND QUARTER

East Tennessee State found some separation in the second period, outscoring the Bears 20-7 to lug a 38-26 lead into the intermission. The Buccaneers used a six-point scoring spurt to push their advantage out to 28-21 following a 3-pointer from Carmen Richardson at the 6:06 mark, and then closed out the half with eight-straight points.

3RD QUARTER

The Bears came out of the halftime gates with the hot hand, canning eight of their 17 field goal attempts in the third frame to make a big dent in their deficit. East Tennessee State led by 13 points, 45-32, after Daniela Lopez's fast-break layup with 6-1/2 minutes left, but Nahawa Diarra's triple on the other end of the court marked the start of a 13-4 run that brought MU within four, 49-45, by the end of the period.

4TH QUARTER

Two free throws from Anala Nelson just 2-1/2 minutes into the final quarter gave ETSU a 53-47 advantage, but Mercer answered with four-straight points to pull to within two, 53-51, on a pair of Rania Curry free throws nearly 90 seconds later. That would turn out to be the final points of the evening for the Orange & Black who came away empty on its next 10 field goal attempts.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Junior Micah O'Dell matched a team-high with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, while also adding four rebounds and a block.
+ Sophomore Stephanie Utomi came in off of the bench to register 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting. She also tallied a team-best eight rebounds, while also chipping in a pair of assists.
+ Freshman Rania Curry and junior Abigail Holtman both recorded eight points. Holtman also pulled down six boards, while Curry logged five rebounds.

NOTABLES

+ Mercer matched a season-high with seven blocks against East Tennessee State, its most swats since recording seven blocks earlier this season (January 2) against Auburn Montgomery at home.
+ The Bears finished Thursday's outing with a season-low five free throw attempts, but still managed to shoot 80 percent (4-for-5) from the line. MU's previous season-low for free throw attempts was seven at Wake Forest in mid-November.
+ The Orange & Black matched a season-best with six turnovers against East Tennessee State, including just two in the second half. It is the second time in the last four outings that the Bears have committed seven or fewer turnovers.

UP NEXT

Mercer will close out the regular season portion of its 2025-26 schedule on Saturday when it battles Southern Conference-leading Chattanooga (18-8, 10-3 SoCon) in the front end of a 2 p.m. Senior Day doubleheader in Hawkins Arena. Tickets are still available, and can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

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