MACON, Ga. --- Mercer used a fourth quarter run to pull away from the Chattanooga Mocs Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena in Southern Conference women's basketball action to win 69-52 in the Southern Conference opener for both teams.
"I'm so disappointed for them," head coach
Katie Burrows said after the game. "They battled, they really, really gutted it out the best that they could. That's the difference between having seniors on the court and having freshmen on the court. You know [Jaron] Dougherty just decided she was going to take it over. All but one of those shots that she hit in the fourth quarter were contested. It's just something that she's always been able to do really well."
The Mocs, missing starters
Abbey Cornelius and
Brooke Hampel along with reserve
Lara Habling for the game due to illness, held close and even took the lead from Mercer into the third quarter. However, a strong fourth quarter momentum by the Bears put the game out of reach for the Mocs.
Mercer outscored the Mocs 9-4 to start the fourth, pushing the lead to 57-46 with 8:04 left in the game and got seven points late in the fourth to widen the lead to 69-50 with 2:32 to play.
The game started with Mercer opening up a 12-2 lead before the Mocs responded with an 8-2 run to make it a four-point game at the end of the first. The Bears started the second with a 6-2 advantage, but Chattanooga answered with six straight points to cut the lead to 20-18 midway through the period.
The Mocs kept it close and, with nine points from
Amaria Pugh, trailed 32-27 at the half. Chattanooga saw its first lead of the game late in the third. Pugh started the 9-0 run with a layup to make it 38-32 with 5:39 to play in the frame. The Mocs got the ball back on a turnover by the Bears and
Destiny McClendon drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 38-35 at the 4:35 mark.
Addie Grace Porter, with one of her team-best four steals, sent the ball down the court to McClendon for her third 3-pointer of the game tying it up 38-38 with just under four minutes to play in the quarter.
Porter made one of two free throws to cap off the run and give Chattanooga its first lead of the game. A jumper from
Karsen Murphy made it 41-39 and she would tie it up less than a minute later with one of two free throws at 42-42 with 1:51 remaining in the third.
Mercer's Erin Houpt hit a pair of daggers to close out the third and Mercer led by six heading into the final quarter.
Pugh was 8-of-12 in the game and led UTC with a season-high tying 17 points. McClendon was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for nine points and Porter had eight points, a career-best five assists and four steals.
Leah Jones, making her first collegiate start, pulled down a career-high nine-rebounds in nearly 30 minutes on the court.
Five Mercer players landed in double figures led by 19 from Dougherty who had nine in the fourth quarter. Amoria Neal-Tysor scored seven in the fourth and had 12 points along with Erin Houpt who was 4-of-8 from deep. Nigeria Harkless dropped in 11 and Shannon Titus had 11 points as well along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Mercer outrebounded the Mocs 38-28 but scored just eight points on 12 offensive boards while UTC had seven points on nine offensive rebounds. In the paint, the Mocs edged the Bears 28-22 and had a 15-4 advantage from its bench. Both teams scored 17 points on turnovers. UTC had 18 and Mercer had 16.
The Mocs fall to 2-14 overall and 0-1 in league play while the Bears improve to 8-5 on the year and 1-0 against the conference.
Chattanooga will take on Samford Monday, Jan. 10 in a rescheduled game that was originally slated for last Thursday. It was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Samford program. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m.
