BOX SCORE (PDF)

MACON, Ga. – The Samford women's basketball team fell on the road at Mercer, 59-49, in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena.
 
"We were totally out of sync from an offensive standpoint early," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We started frantic, taking too many threes. But, for the most part, for the entire game, we really defended and battled. I was really pleased with how our team did that."
 
Samford was led in the loss by freshman Katie Allen with a career-high 16 points. Fellow freshman Charity Brown had eight points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs. Senior Lydia McGee led the team in rebounding with eight.
 
For Mercer, Sydni Means led the way with 20 points, making 14-of-16 free-throw attempts. Kahlia Lawrence scored 16 points, while KeKe Calloway added 10 points. Alex Williams led all players with 12 rebounds.
 
Mercer got off to a hot start, taking a 9-0 lead with 4:32 left in the first quarter after a jumper by Lawrence. The Bears pushed their lead out to 10 points at 13-3, and they held a 15-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
Samford started the second quarter with a 12-4 run to pull to within two points at 17-15 with 3:04 left in the quarter after a free throw by Nichols. A Calloway three-pointer and a free throw by Means gave Mercer a 21-15 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
Samford cut the lead to three points at 23-20 with 7:50 to go in the third quarter after a three-pointer by Charity Brown. Mercer answered with a 9-1 run to push its lead out to 11 points at 32-21 with 5:12 left in the period after two free throws by Means. With Mercer leading, 39-28 late in the third quarter, Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 40-34 at the end of the period.
 
In the fourth quarter, Samford was able to cut the Mercer lead to five points at 48-43 with 1:55 to go after another three-pointer by Allen. Mercer, however, hit several free throws down the stretch to pull away for the 59-49 win.
 
As a team, Samford made 30.2 percent of its shots overall and 31.0 percent from three-point range. Mercer shot 34.8 percent overall and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc. Samford made 8-of-14 attempts from the free-throw line, while Mercer was good on 26-of-31 shots from the charity stripe. Samford won the rebounding battle, 37-35. Samford committed 14 turnovers, to just seven for Mercer.
 
Samford falls to 9-13 overall and 2-5 in Southern Conference play. Mercer improves to 17-4 overall and 6-1 in league games.
 
Samford will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 2, when the Bulldogs play at ETSU. The game is scheduled for a 10 a.m. (CT) start from Johnson City, Tenn.