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Schedule

Full
Head Coach Kiley HIll
Ashley Evans, WCU Communications and Marketing
40
Mercer Mercer 4-18,1-6 SoCon
51
Winner Western Caro. WCU 4-18,1-6 SoCon
Mercer Mercer
4-18,1-6 SoCon
40
Final
51
Western Caro. WCU
4-18,1-6 SoCon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Mercer Mercer 8 6 14 12 40
Western Caro. WCU 15 9 19 8 51

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Denise Gideon, Director of Media Relations

Women's Basketball Earns First SoCon Win Knocking off Mercer

Three Catamounts scored in double figures in huge conference victory

The Basics
Score: Western Carolina 51, Mercer 40
Records: Western Carolina 4-18, 1-6 SoCon, Mercer 4-18, 1-6 SoCon
Location: Ramsey Center, Cullowhee, N.C.    
 
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina women's basketball picked up its first Southern Conference win of the season with a 51-40 victory over visiting Mercer Saturday in the Ramsey Center. 
 
Turning Point:
The Catamounts led from the opening tip to the final buzzer holding the Bears to 29.9 percent shooting and not allowing Mercer to hit a three-pointer. 
 
Individual Leaders
  • Redshirt junior Lauren LaPlant scored a game-leading 12 points hitting two three-pointers in the contest. 
  • Andrea Martin Ruiz had 11 points in the game with four assists while redshirt junior Tembre Moates poured in 10 points and ripped down seven rebounds. 
  • Sophomore Jewel Smalls led the game with 15 rebounds, 14 on the defensive end, and just missed a double-double with eight points. 
  • Judith Martin Ruiz, senior for the Catamounts dished out seven assists, had three points and four rebounds. 
  • Mercer's Shannon Titus was a point shy of a double-double for the Bears with 13 rebounds and nine points. 
 
 
 
Inside the Box Score
  • Western Carolina shot 45.8 percent from the field shutting Mercer down holding the Bears to 29.5 percent. 
  • Mercer did not hit a three-pointer in the game while Western Carolina connected on five.  
  • The Catamounts ripped down 40 rebounds in the contest, 34 on the defensive end, holding Mercer to 32 boards. 
  • Mercer was held to single-digit scoring in the first and second quarters: eight in the first and six in the second. 
  • The 40 points scored by Mercer against Western Carolina is the lowest scoring output of the season for the Bears. 
  • Western Carolina's best scoring run in the game is an 8-0 run in the first quarter. The Catamounts' largest lead was by 15 (43-28) at the 3:19 mark in the third. 
  • The Catamounts had 16 assists in the game. 
 
 
News & Notes
The win over Mercer halts a 17-game losing streak against the Bears.
Smalls' 15 rebounds against Mercer was the 11th time this season she has pulled down double-figure rebounds. 
With 227 rebounds on the season, Smalls moves into 25th place in the WCU record books for most rebounds in a year. It is the most rebounds by a Catamount player since 2016-17 when former Catamount Sherae Bonner had 247.
LaPlant hit a pair of three-pointers against the Bears pushing her seasonal total to 59 sitting at seventh place in the Catamount record books. She is three three-pointers away from moving into sixth. She is eight three-pointers away from breaking the school record. 
Western Carolina's SoCon win on Saturday marks the first for the Catamounts in conference play since Feb. 8, 2018, with a 68-62 victory at Wofford. Before the win over Mercer, WCU's last home conference win came three years ago - Feb. 25, 2017, defeating UNCG 77-73 – breaking a mark of 1,171 days since the Catamounts won a home conference contest. 
Smalls continues to average a double-double with 13.3 points and 10.3 rebounds. 
Moates has scored in double-figures in back-to-back games and five of the last six games. 
Head Coach Kiley Hill picked up his 298th career win with Western Carolina's victory over Mercer. 
Smalls' 227 rebounds move her into ninth in the NCAA for most rebounds on the season. 
 
Up Next
Western Carolina hits the road next week for a two-game road swing traveling to ETSU Thursday and Chattanooga Saturday.
 
For the latest information on Western Carolina women's basketball, follow @catamounts on Twitter or go to www.catamountsports.com.
 
 
 
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