Belmont 86, Mercer 83
MACON, Ga. – Five players scored in double-figures and Teanna Robinson notched a double-double, but it was not enough, as the Mercer women’s basketball team was narrowly defeated by Belmont, 86-83, on Friday night at Hawkins Arena.
Robinson recorded a career-high 19 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, while also tallying three blocks and three assists to lead the Bears. Precious Bridges notched 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Madi Mitchell scored a career-high 19 points and added six rebounds and two assists.
Briana Williams and Kahlia Lawrence each had 12 points to round out the double-digit scoring for Mercer. This marked the first game of the season in which five Bears scored in double-figures. Lawrence also had four rebounds and three assists, while Williams tallied four assists, a steal and a rebound.
Mercer moved to 6-5 on the season, while Belmont improved to 3-8. Frankie Joubran had 22 points to lead a quartet of double-digit scorers for the Bruins.
The second stanza started much like the first, with the teams each notching a couple of baskets, but this time it was Mercer that made the run. The Bears used a 7-2 spurt to cut the score to 55-40 with 14:34 on the clock.
A little more back-and-forth, followed by a 7-0 Mercer run put the Orange and Black within single digits, 63-54, for the first time since 12:50 in the first half.
The shots continued to fall for Mercer, and it took the lead, 75-74, with 2:42 to play. An 8-2 run from the Bruins put Belmont back up 82-77 with 46 ticks left on the clock. Robinson made a layup with 00:31 left to pull Mercer back within three, 82-79, but a pair of Belmont free throws put the score at 84-79 just three seconds later.
A Bridges layup followed by a Belmont turnover and a Robinson layup put Mercer within one again, 84-83, with just three seconds left. Belmont connected on another two free throws and Mercer was unable to get off a shot in the final two seconds, ending the game with a final score of 86-83.
Mercer shot 57.1 percent in the second half and held Belmont to just 36.7 percent, as the Bears outscored the Bruins, 55-38. Mercer also outrebounded Belmont, 23-13, in the second period, pulling the final total to 39-39.
Mercer and Belmont traded baskets for the first two minutes of the game, knotting the score at 4-4. The back-and-forth looked poised to continue, until Belmont went on an 11-0 run that lasted 1:18 and included a trio of three-pointers to put the Bruins up 15-6.
The Bruins used a second run, this time 8-0, to stretch their advantage to 27-11 with 10:33 left in the period. After a couple of baskets from each team, Belmont’s third scoring spurt, 8-2, gave the Bruins their largest lead of the half, 42-19, with 4:58 on the clock.
Mercer outscored Belmont 9-6 in the final 4:30 of the period, to move the score to 48-28 before heading into the locker room. Bridges led the Bears with 10 points in the first half, while Robinson matched her season-high of eight points. Robinson also had a team-leading six rebounds.
Mercer shot 29.7 percent from the field, while Belmont tallied a blistering 70.4 field goal percentage, which included 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. The Bruins also outrebounded the Bears, 23-13, but Mercer won the turnover battle, 4-11.
The Bears will play one final game before the holidays, as Mercer will travel to Charleston, S.C., to face the College of Charleston on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.
UCLA 71, Samford 52
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Samford women’s basketball team dropped a 71-52 decision to UCLA on the final day of the Tulane/Double Tree Classic Friday evening at Devlin Fieldhouse.
In the loss, Samford was led by Hannah Nichols with 12 points. Destiney Elliott and Amara Mayers scored 10 points each, while Krista Stricklin added eight points for the Bulldogs.
For UCLA, Nirra Fields led the way with 21 points. Jordin Canada scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bruins.
UCLA jumped out to an early 9-0 lead with 14:32 left in the first half after two free throws by Kari Korver. Samford fought back to cut the lead to six at 9-3 and 11-5. The Bruins, however, pushed their lead out to as much as 15 points at 22-7 with 7:58 left in the half after a layup by Fields.
With Samford trailing, 30-19, the Bulldogs began to climb back into the game. Samford closed the half with an 11-3 run to cut UCLA’s lead to three points at 33-30 heading into halftime.
UCLA opened the second half with an 8-0 run to push its lead back out to 11 points at 41-30 with 18:10 to go after a layup by Recee’ Caldwell. After Samford cut the lead to eight at 43-35, UCLA went on a 10-2 run to take a 16-point lead at 53-37 with 12:50 left in the game following a layup by Canada.
UCLA eventually built its second-half lead to 21 points at 65-44 and 67-46. Samford could get no closer than 17 points the rest of the way as the Bruins came away with the 71-52 win.
Samford committed 29 turnovers in the loss. The Bulldogs made 37.0 of their shots from the floor, and UCLA won the rebounding battle, 32-30.
With the loss, Samford falls to 5-6 on the season. UCLA improves to 4-5 with the win.
Samford will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 21, when the Bulldogs play host to Alabama State. The game is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.
UNC Wilmington 61, ETSU 48
WILMINGTON, N.C. – In the opening game of the 2014 Seahawks Hampton Inn Christmas Invitational, the ETSU women’s basketball suffered a 61-48 defeat to host UNC Wilmington on Friday afternoon inside Trask Coliseum. In the loss, senior forward Serena Clark posted her fourth double-double of the season with team highs of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
With the defeat, ETSU’s four-game win streak was snapped and its overall record was dropped to 7-5 on the season. Meanwhile, UNCW improved to 3-5 on the year and halted a five-game losing skid.
Riding their longest winning streak since 2011, the Bucs came out energized early. A quick five points from freshman Tianna Tarter and a three-pointer from fellow guard Shamauria Bridges gave the Blue & Gold an 8-6 lead four minutes into the contest. Following, the Seahawks went on a 10-0 run to lead 18-8 with 10:15 left to play in the first half. Faced with a double-digit deficit in front of a raucous crowd, ETSU collected itself over the final half of the opening period to get within striking distance before halftime; outscoring UNCW 20-13 over the final 10 minutes. A late free throw conversion from junior guard Chandler Christopher with only seconds remaining brought the score to 31-28 at the break.
After gaining momentum going into the locker room, the Bucs pulled within three – 33-30 – minutes into the second period on a Clark lay-in. With the Blue & Gold threatening with 13:34 to go, the Seahawks went on a 9-2 burst to take control of the game – 48-36 – with 10:24 remaining. Plagued by cold shooting throughout the second period, ETSU could not get anything going on offense to combat the growing deficit. As a result, the Bucs were unable to chip the deficit down to single digits over the duration of the contest. Late free throw conversions from the home team brought the final score 61-48.
Kelva Atkins led all scorers with 19 points and was joined in double-figures for UNCW by Shatia Cole and Amber Reeves each with 11. Meanwhile, in addition to Clark’s double-double, senior forward Destiny Mitchell added eight points and 13 rebounds while Tarter posted eight points – all in the first half.
The Seahawks did not shoot the ball from the field particularly well (35 percent), but made up for their misses with 22 offensive rebounds. In total, UNCW held a 51-40 advantage on the boards and also turned ETSU over 21 times resulting in 13 points. The host team also converted in the paint with 28 points.
Despite a few early makes, the Blue & Gold struggled to develop any rhythm on offense. For the game, the Bucs shot 32 percent from the floor and was only 3-of-16 from behind arc including zero makes in the second half. ETSU also got to the free throw 13 less times than its opponent and converted on only seven opportunities (7-of-13). The Blue & Gold did get 13 points from its bench including seven from Maria Bond and six from Tiana Burley in her season debut.
The Bucs will continue action in the 2014 UNCW Seahawks Hampton Inn Christmas Invitational tomorrow with a matchup against Jacksonville State at noon inside Trask Coliseum.