November 19, 2010

Long Range Shooting Lifts Furman Over Women’s Basketball

MACON, Ga. – Three Mercer players scored in double figures and the Bears held a five point advantage at halftime, but Furman’s Kelly O’Connor netted 20 second half points to lift the Paladins to a 63-47 win in Friday night’s non-conference women’s basketball game.

Mercer fell to 0-3 for the first time since the 2006-07 season while Furman moved to 1-1 on the year.

“There were some offensive lulls in the second half where it felt like everyone was waiting on someone else to score,” Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said.  “We were right in it, but some back-to-back errors came at key times and really hurt us.”

After Mercer took a 26-21 lead into intermission, the teams split the first 20 points of the second half.  Trailing 36-31 with 10:12 remaining, Furman point guard Kaitlin Murphy was fouled and converted a pair of free throw attempts, trimming the Mercer lead to three.

Murphy’s free throws marked the start of a 30-7 Paladin run that saw the visitors take their largest lead of the night with 58 seconds remaining (63-45).  Furman’s run was fueled by five three pointers from O’Connor.

As a team, Furman finished the second half seven-of-12 from three-point range in the second half.

While Furman got hot from long range, Mercer simultaneously began to struggle offensively, finishing the second half just eight-of-29 from the field.

Mercer’s Briana Williams, Alex Phillips and Brittnee Hazel all finished with ten points in the losing effort. Phillips also corralled seven rebounds, notched two blocks and dished an assist against Furman.

“I thought Alex was solid all night long,” Gardner said.  “She gave us as much as she could for as long as she could tonight.”

Mercer sophomore Kendra Grant tallied eight points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the loss.

“Kendra always has the green light,” Garnder said.  “She took hit some good shots tonight and also gave us some defensive sparks.”

Mercer returns to action in the Thanksgiving Tournament hosted by Georgia State.  The Bears are slated to face Rice on Nov. 27 at 4 p.m. in the opening game of the event.