Bears to Challenge Unbeaten Eagles Monday

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Mercer women’s basketball team faces arguably its toughest conference game of the year Monday, meeting the unbeaten Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in Alico Arena at 7:05 p.m.

The Bears enter the matchup at 1-14 (1-5 A-Sun) after suffering their ninth-straight loss at the hands of Stetson on Saturday.  FGCU, on the other hand, is 13-0 (6-0 A-Sun) and aims to extend its unbeaten streak at Alico Arena to 32 games.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

FGCU returns two starters from last year’s team that finished 24-7 (17-3 A-Sun).  The Eagles were picked to finish first among A-Sun teams in a preseason poll of the league’s media and coaches. 

Senior guard Shannon Murphy was named to the A-Sun preseason All-Conference team after averaging 10.7 points per game last season.  This season, junior guard Kelsey Jacobson leads the team at 13.2 points per game.

Since moving to Division I, FGCU has a 48-3 record at Alico Arena , ranking the team second among Division I teams in all-time winning percentage at home. Only Tennessee (.943) has a better winning percentage in home events.

GAME NOTES

On Saturday at Stetson, Brittnee Hazel tallied 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.  If Hazel had collected 10 rebounds, it would have marked the freshman’s third-straight double-double performance.  Hazel has now scored 10 or more points in Mercer’s last four games and led the team in scoring on four occasions this season.

Mercer is winless in six all-time meets with FGCU.  Last year, the Eagles edged Mercer 84-77 in Fort Myers before taking a 67-62 victory in Macon.

In her final season donning Orange and Black, senior Kourtney Carter has stepped up her game against A-Sun opponents.  Carter is averaging 4.6 points in league games in comparison to 1.8 points in non-conference tilts.