DeLand, Fla. ? The Stetson women's basketball team (8-17, 5-11 Atlantic Sun) erased a 15-point second half deficit but found itself unable to grab the lead in a 71-67 home loss to Mercer (13-11, 9-6 A-Sun) Thursday evening at the Edmunds Center. Sophomore forward Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla.) scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.
Down 41-31 at halftime and 48-33 three minutes into the second half, Stetson methodically chipped away at the Mercer lead, getting back within single digits on a jumper by senior center Ayesha Barkley (East Orange, N.J.) with 14:01 to go, part of a 20-7 Hatter run that cut the deficit to 55-53 with 7:06 left. A three-pointer by Mercer's Courtney Ford bolstered the lead back to five, but the Hatters would attack again.
Stetson twice tied the score in the final five minutes, including on a Sharnesha Smith (Kingsland, Ga.) basket with 3:28 to go, but the Bears never let the Hatters take the lead. A foul on the next trip down the floor and a Natasha Doh free throw started a 6-0 Mercer run that kept Stetson at bay. The Hatters made things interesting in the final 15 seconds with two free throws, an inbounds steal and a basket in the paint to make it a two-point game with six seconds left, but Mercer guard LaToya Jackson iced the game with two free throws with four seconds to go.
The theme of the game was fouls and free throws; the two teams combined for 44 personal fouls and 56 free throw attempts. In fact, Stetson had 21 made free throws to 20 field goals while Mercer made 24 free throws and only 21 field goals. Ultimately, the difference was at the three-point line where Mercer shot 10-19 (.526) and Stetson a dismal 1-13 (.077).
In addition to Conner, sophomore guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) and junior forward Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) reached double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Smith finished with eight points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds. She now stands at 995 points for her career and is poised to become the 17th member of the program's 1,000 Points Club on Saturday. Brown ripped five steals and sophomore guard Brittany Carannante (Clearwater, Fla.) had four of her own.
Ford scored 20 points and collected four steals to lead Mercer to the victory; she was joined in double figures by LaToya Jackson (19 points), Doh (12 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Dominique Chism (11 points, seven rebounds).
Mercer nailed six three-pointers and hit on all nine of its free throw attempts to open up a 41-31 halftime advantage. The Bears led for the final 30:16 of the game. Doh and LaToya Jackson scored 11 points each in the first half for Mercer while Conner's eight points led Stetson.
The Hatters close out the home portion of their schedule Saturday at 2 p.m. against Kennesaw State. There will be a Senior Day celebration for the three Stetson upperclassmen playing their final games at the Edmunds Center: Barkley, Smith and forward Shayna Swinson (Atlanta, Ga.). Bill Topping and Dee Romine call all the action on Hatter Vision with Live Stats also available at www.GoHatters.com, the official online home of Stetson Athletics.
