ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A stifling Mercer defense that overwhelmed Wofford carried the Bears to a tournament title on Sunday, a 60-38 victory in the 2021 Ingles Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale Brick at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville. 

A dominating 28-0 run that bridged the second and third periods led No. 2 seed Mercer (19-6) to its third SoCon championship in four years under coach Susie Gardner and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The Bears held No. 4 Wofford (13-11) scoreless for more than 13 minutes while turning a one-point lead into a 47-18 advantage. 

A strong defensive start for both squads saw Mercer take a 2-0 lead early, but Lilly Hatton tied it with a deep two. Niyah Lutz picked up a loose ball and took it to the rim and then cashed a 3-pointer to level the score at 7. Out of the timeout the Bears regained the lead, but Annabelle Schultz swished a three from the wing to bring it back to a one score game. The Terriers added two free-throws late to make it 15-12 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

Wofford came out and scored immediately to begin the quarter with Jamari McDavid waiting out the defender and laying one in. Helen Matthews added a left-handed layup as Mercer called a timeout, still up by three, 19-16. Matthews laid in another one as the Terriers were searching for their first lead of the game. A five minute scoring drought allowed Mercer to take a 25-18 lead and saw Wofford call a timeout with 1:11 to go in the half. The Terriers couldn't score in the final minute as they trailed 27-18 at the break.

Wofford's struggles continued at the start of the 3^rd quarter as they went down 14 and had to call a timeout to regroup. A 15-0 run by the Bears in the quarter put them up 42-18 and the Terriers called another timeout. Matthews finally gave Wofford their first points of the quarter going around her defender for the layup, and MaryMartha Turner knocked down a triple to try and give the team some life. Mercer controlled the pace of play and had a 25-point lead going into the final frame.

The Terriers offense couldn't get anything going even after grabbing some offensive rebounds. Matthews did her thing once again and blew by her man going in for the reverse layup, but it looked like the gas tank was on empty for the black and gold. Alea Harris did her best to get to the paint and score a floater, and Lawren Cook hit a pair of free-throws to show that the Terriers were not giving up. Schultz made a crossover move and made her second 3-pointer of the game, and Abbey Crawford scored her first points of the tournament on a layup. Crawford scored the final points of the season on two free-throws as a historic season came to an end for the Terriers.

Helen Matthews led the team with nine points and Jamari McDavid had seven rebounds, but the offensive woes flattened the Terriers. Matthews was named to the All-Tournament Second Team, while Lilly Hatton was named to the First Team.

"I want to congratulate Mercer first off, they were the better team today. We struggled to get it going offensively and they [Mercer] make it hard to catch", said head coach Jimmy Garrity. "The players are hanging their heads, but there is so much to be proud of. I'm so proud of not only them on the court, but off the court they are the most incredible people. At the end of the day the college and the community is super proud of the team and what they accomplished this year."