Mercer 46, Davidson 43

MACON, Ga. –  Precious Bridges score a game-high 23 points, including the final three at the charity stripe, and Davidson could not overcome a first-half funk in falling 46-43 on the road Wednesday evening in non-conference women’s basketball play at Hawkins Arena.

Bridges’ final three points of the game proved to be the biggest as she broke up a 43-all game with three free throws in the final 37 seconds and Davidson (1-4) twice missed chances to tie it on its two possessions, resulting in a tough defeat for the Wildcats.

Sophia Aleksandravicius missed a layup that would have tied things up at 45 after it appeared she was fouled, but no whistle was blown. Laura Murray – nine points, four boards – then missed a three-point try on Davidson’s next possession that could have knotted things up at 46-all with three seconds to go.

Aleksandravicius had a strong game on the blocks. Despite having an off-shooting night, the senior tallied her second double-double of the season with 18 points and a game-high 14 boards. She was a perfect 8-for-8 at the charity stripe, with her last fourtying the game up at 43-all with just a minute to go.

Dakota Dukes, who finished with 12 points, led the ‘Cats back from a poor first half. The freshman scored nine of the Wildcats’ first 13 points to open the new half, with her last bucket making it 30-28 with 12 minutes to go.

Davidson kept chipping away and Aleksandravicius’ jumper at the 15-foot line gave the ‘Cats their only lead of the game at 36-35 with 4:59 left.

The first half was one Davidson wishes it could have played again. The ‘Cats turned the ball over 14 times, hit just six of its 23 shots and trailed by ten at the break. The game started off with them not scoring for the first seven minutes, while Bridges pushed the Bears out to a double-digit lead with nine of Mercer’s first 17 points. She capped the half off with a trey to make it a 25-15 after 20 minutes.

The Wildcats shot just 29.1 percent for the game, but held Mercer (4-2) to 31.5 percent and out-rebounded the Bears 41-39.

Davidson returns home for the first time in five games for its home and Southern Conference opener this weekend with a matchup against Georgia Southern Saturday at 4 p.m. The game was originally at 2 p.m., but moved back to 4 p.m.

Winthrop 63, College of Charleston 61

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Freshman Shannon Hines hit a dramatic three-pointer with 11 seconds to go to tie the game at 61-61, but a College of Charleston foul gave Winthrop free-throws to win the game as the Cougars fell 63-61 Wednesday at TD Arena.

Senior Latisha Harris posted a career-high 23 points and also contributed eight rebounds and five blocks to lead the Cougars.

Junior Alyssa Frye got the Cougars (2-4) off to a good start as she hit her first three shots from beyond the three-point arc in the first five minutes of the game to put CofC up 16-12. Frye had 11 at halftime and the Cougars led 31-28 at the break.

Harris took control of the game to start the second half as she scored eight points to ignite an 11-4 run and put the Cougars up 42-32 against the Eagles (3-3).

The Cougars gave up 20 second chance points for the game and went 8-of-16 from the free-throw, which helped Winthrop get back in the game.

Harris put the Cougars up 56-53 with 2:29 to go with her 10th field goal of the game, but the Eagles tied the game with a three-pointer by Diana Choibekova, who scored 23 points for the Eagles. A few possessions later Harris picked up a costly foul as it was her fifth and she left the game with 1:25 to play and the score knotted at 56.

Winthrop got a bucket to go up two at 58-56 with 1:12 to go and after a missed three-pointer by Frye, senior Cathryn Hardy picked up her fifth foul and had to exit the game with 49 seconds remaining.

Winthrop went up by as many as four, but junior Jillian Brown answered with a drive to the basket and score to bring the Cougars to within two at 60-58 with 27 seconds left to play.

After Winthrop added a free-throw to go up three both teams traded empty possessions until sophomore Jazz Green got a rebound and found Hines in the right corner as she knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game at 61-61 with 11 seconds to play.

As Winthrop brought the ball up the court a foul was whistled on Green and Winthrop’s Dequesha McClanahan made two free-throws to put Winthrop up 63-61. The Cougars would have one last chance, but Brown’s jumper rimmed out as time expired.

Up next the Cougars begin Southern Conference play as they take on Elon on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and UNCG Monday at 7:00 p.m.

Georgia 83, Furman 47

ATHENS, GA. -- Khaalidah Miller scored 17 points and nationally eighth-ranked Georgia used effective  pressure defense to race past Furman, 83-47, in women’s basketball action Wednesday evening at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (8-0) deployed an effective 2-2-1 press to harry the Paladins (3-2) into a season high 28 turnovers en route to the win, their ninth against no losses in the series with Furman.

Jasmine James added 15 points while Erika Ford contributed 14 points for the Bulldogs, who also got 12 points and seven rebounds from Ann Marie Armstrong.

Furman was paced by Brittany Hodges’ 15 points.  Teshia Griswold followed with 14 points and seven rebounds for the Paladins.

Freshman forward Holli Wilkins, the niece of former Georgia All-American Dominique Wilkins, made her first collegiate start for the injured Sarah Durdaller and added nine points and three rebounds for Furman.

Georgia converted the Paladins’ 28 turnovers into a 36-2 scoring advantage off miscues.

Furman grabbed a 9-4 lead following a Wilkins 3-pointer three minutes into the contest, but the Bulldogs quickly erased the advantage, using five Paladin turnovers to spark a 19-4 run to take a 23-13 lead on a Miller 3-ball with 11:02 to go in the first half.

The Bulldogs led 31-18 before Griswold drained back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Furman to within 31-24.  Georgia, however, answered with a 14-2 spurt to grab a 45-26 lead with a little over a minute left in the first half.

Georgia shot 53.1 percent (17-for-32) from the field over the game’s final 20 minutes to finish the contest at 46.8 percent, getting off 25 more shots (36-of-77) than Furman, which converted only 19-of-52 field goals (36.5 percent).

The Bulldogs posted 45-35 rebounding advantage, including a 26-14 margin on the offensive boards.

Furman opens Southern Conference play on Saturday at Chattanooga.  Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.