The women's basketball team is now on a three-game losing streak, 7-18 overall and 2-8 in the Southern Conference after a two-loss home stand last week during which the Bears faced off against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and East Tennessee State University.
Mercer lost 69-39 to Chattanooga on Thursday in Hawkins Arena, their second defeat to the River Mocs of the season. The offense struggled throughout the game as the team scored in the double digits in just two quarters of the game. Ashlee Locke '25 and Chelsy Bautista '26 combined for 18 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. It was Bautista's strongest performance since Dec. 30, 2024 against Kennesaw State University. While the forward out of the Dominican Republic has started consistently this year, she has the third-highest field goal percentage on the team this season.
During the game on Thursday, the team helped raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in honor of Kay Yow, former North Carolina State University's head women’s basketball coach, according to a press release from Mercer Athletics. This fund has awarded over 8 million dollars to help women fight against all cancer. For more information on how to give visit KayYow.com.
In the second matchup of the season between the Bears and the ETSU Bucanneers, Mercer fell 70-67 to the visiting Bucs. The game leaders were Locke with 18 points and four rebounds, Nahawa Diarra '25 with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, and forward Ariana Bennett '26 with 16 points, two rebounds and three assists.
The Bears' offense was markedly better against ETSU than it was earlier in the week, and they took the fourth-ranked SoCon team to the last second. The team shot 53.2 percent from the field, including 6-for-12 from deep. Locke and Bennett combined for a 15-for-20 performance while Kayla Smith '26 and Diarra shot 5-for-10 from beyond the three-point line. Ultimately, the Bucs left Macon with a win after they converted their final three-point attempt of the game with 10 seconds left.
The Bears will go on the road for their next game in Greenville, S.C., where they will take on Furman University (13-13, 3-7 SoCon) on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. The Bears are sitting at No. 7 in the conference, just above Western Carolina University, with four games left to play in the regular season.
