MACON, Ga. — The Mercer women's basketball team hasn't had a reason to celebrate in quite awhile. Before Saturday they'd lost their last ten games and were facing the team that caused them quite a few headaches over the last decade, but the losing streak ended. Mercer defeated Chattanooga, 55-48 to earn their first Southern Conference victory of the 2020 season.
Shannon Titus and Jaron Dougherty combined for 47 points. Dougherty finished with a season high to go along with 12 rebounds and four blocks. It was her sixth double-double of the year. Titus put up 18 points, 8 rebounds and three blocks.
The Bears started out hot, shooting out to a 12-4 lead with four points a piece from Dougherty and Titus. They finished the first quarter up 18-6 before stretching their lead out to 19 by halftime.
But in the third quarter, the Mocs gave Mercer their best shot. They outscored the Bears 22-7 in the third period behind four Moc three pointers and 10 third quarter points for Bria Dial.
The Mercer lead shrunk all the way to one point to start the fourth. Gardner admitted she talked to her team about playing with the lead, something they were not used to, at halftime.
"It was a new conversation at halftime actually. We'd not been up 19 at halftime. So we had to talk about the one possession we've been talking about from a new perspective," Gardner said. "We've been down and we've had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, and we've cut it close and not been able to win the game and now, all of a sudden, Chattanooga is fight, fight, fighting us and they cut it to one. We had to handle something we haven't seen in a long time."
Titus said the players weren't about to let another game slip away.
"'Ok, they hit us, now let's hit them back,'" Titus remembers saying to herself. "We can do it. We did it in the first half. We know what we're capable of so just because they went on that run doesn't mean it's the end."
The Bears locked down defensively, holding the Mocs to just 10 points while putting up 17 themselves. Dougherty put up 7 of her 29 in the fourth. She credited Gardner's system and her teammates with the hot night.
"We just had a lot of good ball movement and we focused on having great cuts and good screens to get open," Dougherty.
Its the first SoCon win of the season and breaks a 10-game losing streak. Gardner said the win can go a long way with her young team.
"It's one game, I mean but hopefully we can continue to grow. For the players for their standpoint, they need a little confidence. They need a little boost," Gardner said. "They need to know their hard work is getting them where they want to go. We put three good quarters together, we need to put four, but hopefully we're making progress."
The Bears will be back on the floor Thursday against UNC-Greensboro in North Carolina.