Player of the Week: Precious Bridges

Senior Precious Bridges has been a vital part in the success of the Mercer Women’s Basketball Team in recent years. The West Palm Beach native has been a starter since 2011, her freshman year with the Bears.

She chose Mercer based on academics and athletics and has not been let down.

"It has been and is outstanding," Bridges says. "I have had a great time at Mercer, and luckily, it is still going."

During her freshman year, Bridges was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team after averaging 31.1 minutes per game throughout the season and accumulating 12 double-doubles during the season.

By her sophomore year, Bridges won the league-scoring title with an average of 16.8 points a game. She was also named to both the A-Sun All-Conference first team and the A-Sun Championship All-Tournament Team.

In her junior season, Bridges lead her team and was fifth in the A-Sun in points per game with 14.8.  Bridges was also selected to the Atlantic Sun’s Preseason All-Conference Team.

Now, in the midst of her senior season, Bridges has started all 20 games and is averaging 20.6 points per game. Throughout conference play, she is averaging 17.2 points per game. The team is currently 11-9 overall, 3-1 in conference.

The team began conference play with a three-game win streak, defeating Western Carolina University, UNC Greensboro and Wofford College. The team is ranked fourth in Southern Conference, trailing Chattanooga, Samford and ETSU.

This season, Bridges was named the Southern Conference player of the week for two consecutive weeks. Bridges received player of the week from Jan. 6 and Jan. 13 for her performances in the games and statistics. Earlier in the season, she was also named player of the week.

Bridges leads the league in both scoring, with 413 total points, and in minutes played. She is thirteenth in the league for rebounds with 113 and third with a total of 72 assists. Bridges is also second in free throw percentage with .826.

Bridges, so far, said that her senior season has been her best so far. Describing her four years, she said, "It has been tough, but now it is really smoothing out." This season, her favorite memory is scoring 43 points in the team’s double overtime win against St. Louis.

Throughout her time at Mercer, her favorite experience was to travel to Africa with her team during the summer. They went to work with young kids and even played basketball with them.

This year marks the first year for Mercer to compete in the Southern Conference, making competition even more exciting for the Bears. Bridges is excited for the rest of the season and hopes to lead her team to win the Southern Conference Championship.

Bridges enjoys fashion, including online shopping, and changing her hairstyle frequently. Before games, she likes to listen to Beyoncé to get pumped up. While getting ready, she has created a ritual of putting on her left shoe and sock before her right.

Her top five favorite movies are “Love and Basketball,” “Taken 3,” “The Equalizer,” “The Blind Side” and “Frozen.” Her favorite TV show is “Being Mary Jane,” with her favorite artist being Beyoncé.

While Bridges has had many role models in her life, there are two people who seem to stand out. “I look up to both my mother and Jamierra Faulkner, a rookie for the Chicago Sky.”

Bridges studies both communications and criminal justice while she minors in media studies. She plans to graduate in May. Post-graduation, she wants to pursue a career as a homicide detective but always to be involved with basketball. She has also thought about pursuing a professional basketball career overseas.