MACON, Ga. – Four Lady Eagles scored in double digits as Georgia Southern outrebounded Mercer, 47-29, in the University Center for a 76-45 win Friday night (December 11). Georgia Southern picked up 38 points off the bench and held Mercer to 25.8 percent shooting from the floor to push its win streak to three games, while snapping a four-game Bear streak.

Georgia Southern moved to a .500 mark with the win, now standing at 4-4 overall. Mercer, 1-2 against Southern Conference opponents this season, dropped to 4-3.

Georgia Southern shot 50.0 percent for the game with four players pitching in 10 points each as senior Carolyn Whitney (Duluth, Ga.) recorded her fifth consecutive game in double digits and J'Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) notched her third straight. Candice Ivy (Roswell, Ga.) and Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) added 10 apiece, the first double digit game this season for both. With a team total 47 rebounds, Williams led the edge on glass for the Lady Eagles, pulling down eight, five defensive. Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) followed securing six boards.

“Our defense was better than their offense tonight. The win was a total team effort with all but one player scoring in the game,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “We did an excellent job rebounding tonight and our bench almost doubled Mercer’s points off the bench.”

Mercer, shooting 25.8 percent from the floor and a dismal 18.5 percent from beyond the arc, was led by LaToya Jackson with 16 points. Jackson was the only Bear in double figures, with Neicey Lewis scoring the next best with seven points. Kourtney Carter led the defense with five of Mercer’s 29 total rebounds.

Except for one made free throw from the hands of Ogburn, both teams struggled on the offensive side as both were scoreless from the floor to start the second half. The teams traded treys for the first buckets in the second frame. The Lady Eagles opened a 20-point lead off a Briana Scott (Dumfries, Va.) field goal, 46-26, at the 11:11 mark. Williams drained consecutive treys within 40 seconds of each other as Georgia Southern opened its lead to 30 points, 69-39. Ashley McKenzie (Loganville, Ga) and Ro-Ro Smith (Blackshear, Ga.) closed out the game for Georgia Southern with field goals setting the final score of 76-45.

GSU won the tip to start the game and held Mercer to a single field goal through the first four and a half minutes, while building a nine point lead, 16-5, to open the first half. With three-point efforts from Whitney and Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla), combined with Ivy’s first bucket, the Lady Eagles extended their lead to 11 points, 17-6, at the second media timeout. Freshman Frye put together a personal 5-0 run with a field goal and three-pointer to pit the score at 26-8 with 8:45 remaining. The Bears strengthened their offensive effort and slowly closed the gap, but Georgia Southern maintained a double-digit lead through the final media timeout of the opening frame, 29-17. Williams hit a three, while Mercer closed out the first half with three unanswered for a halftime score of 36-23.

The Lady Eagles’ 54.2 percent shooting, led by Meredyth Frye’s (Fredericksburg, Va.) seven points, in the opening stanza left a 13 point margin at halftime. An evenly distributed defensive side was led by Geiger, Ivy and Williams’ three rebounds apiece. With 15 points off the bench to Mercer’s five and 12 points off seven Mercer turnovers, Georgia Southern held the Bears to a .391 clip from the field in the first half. Jackson scored eight points to lead Mercer at the break.

“We played a complete, solid game tonight and I’m extremely proud of the team,” said Cram.

Georgia Southern continues this non-conference road swing traveling to UNC Asheville next. The Lady Eagles take on the Bulldogs in Asheville on December 16 at 7 p.m.