Mercer’s women’s basketball team hosted the Georgia Bulldogs at Hawkins Arena on Thursday, losing 77-57. With the loss, Mercer falls to 1-3 on the season while UGA improves to 3-1. This was the second home game of the season for the Bears, who won their first home game over Florida Atlantic University, 70-62.
The game started off close with the Bears trailing at the end of the first quarter by just 6 points, but UGA began to pull away by the end of the second quarter as it had a 38-29 lead going into halftime. Coming out of the break, Mercer was outdone in the second half, with UGA scorign 39 to their 28.
The Bears struggled again with shooting as they shot just 33% from the field and 42% from the free throw line. Mercer also had 20 turnovers, on top of UGA racking up 13 steals and two blocks.
Mercer was led by Deja Williams ‘24, who had 14 points, six assists and three steals, and Briana Peguero ‘25, who had 11 points while shooting 43% from 3-point range. Together, Williams and Peguero shot 7-17 from deep.
In the third quarter, Mercer lost Enjulina Gonzalez ‘26 to an injury that kept her out of the game after 16 minutes on the floor. Gonzalez made her first start of the season against UGA after being named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team last season.
Despite the loss, Mercer had a couple of good signs against a power-five program. Stacie Jones ‘24 got her third 10+ rebound game of the season, which helped Mercer out-rebound Georgia, 42-40. Mercer also recorded a season-high of 15 assists. Mercer currently leads the SoCon in offensive rebounds with 69 rebounds for the total season.
The Bears hope to spring back this Sunday as they will host Tulane (2-1) at Hawkins Arena at 2:00 PM on Nov. 19th. Mercer hasn’t faced Tulane in 40 years since the last game between the two teams on October 22, 1983.
