MACON, Ga. – Down by three at halftime, the Wofford women's basketball team came out of the break with authority to outscore Mercer 35-22 in the second half en route to a 61-51 victory in Hawkins Arena. The Thursday night triumph moves Wofford to 12-5 and 4-0 in Southern Conference play. Mercer falls to 6-13 (1-3 SoCon).
 
The Terriers have matched their best-ever start to conference action, tying the 4-0 start in the 2020-21 campaign. This is only Wofford's second win in Macon and the first since the 2022-23 season. The comeback win marked Wofford's second halftime comeback of the season and the first time the Terriers have done so on the road.
 
"I'm really proud of our effort," said head coach Jimmy Garrity. "Winning on the road is difficult, and Mercer is a tough place to play. Give Mercer a lot of credit; they're really good defensively. I thought our third quarter defense was just outstanding. In the second half we hit some timely threes that we really needed just to stretch it up to double-digits. We did enough down the stretch to get the victory."
 
Wofford shot better overall on the night at 37.0 percent (17-of-46) to Mercer's 30.4 percent (17-of-56). Both teams made five threes, but Mercer converted more of its attempts, 33.3 percent to Wofford's 25.0 percent. The free throw line proved pivotal as the Terriers were 22-of-27 at the stripe, making 10 more foul shots than the Bears in what was a 10-point ballgame.
 
"I'm really proud of out effort at the free throw line, getting there and getting paint touches," said Garrity. "Going 22-for-27, 81 percent was outstanding. I thought we did an excellent job on the glass, and that really proved to be the difference."
 
Continued dominance on the boards was also impactful for Wofford, who outrebounded Mercer 45-28. The Terriers tallied 11 offensive rebounds, marking their eighth consecutive contest with double-digit offensive boards. This was Wofford's seventh-straight 40-rebound effort. Further highlighting a stout defensive effort, Wofford totaled four blocks with Mercer only notching one.
 
"Going into the game, that was one of our key factors to the win," said Molly Masingale of the rebounding efforts. "We all bought into that and knew that to win we needed to come out on top in rebounds."
 
Helen Matthews led the way with 20 points on the night for back-to-back outings of 20-plus points. She added seven boards and three assists. Molly Masingale joined her in double figures with 17 points, adding in five rebounds and two helpers. Both were instrumental at the stripe with Matthews hitting 7-of-8 and Masingale knocking down 8-of-11.
 
"I think I've been more deliberate in getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line," said Matthew of her offensive success. "I think when I do that, it makes it harder on the other team, and it worked for me tonight."
 
Maddie Heiss was just shy of double-digits with nine points. Evangelia Paulk recorded her third double-digit rebounding affair of the last four games with 10 boards. With seven points, she was just short of a double-double, and she swiped a pair of steals to move her season total to 55. Mia Flor and Libby Privett helped fuel the rebounding efforts with six and seven, respectively, and Flor swatted half of the Terrier blocks.
 
The game started off back-and-forth with Mercer putting home the first basket before Evangelia Paulk's layup tied the score. After trading a pair of buckets, six-straight Mercer points provided an edge to the Bears. Paulk buried a three only for it to be matched on the other end. Wofford provided a push near the end of the frame when Molly Masingale and Helen Matthews converted back-to-back trips to the charity stripe to pull the Terriers within two. However, a Mercer three with 40 seconds left gave the Bears an 18-13 edge after 10 minutes.
 
Wofford opened up the second with six consecutive points to pull ahead 19-18 for its first lead of the night. The Teams would then furiously trade blows the rest of the quarter, which featured six lead changes and four ties. Mercer pulled ahead by a point with 2:31 on the clock before Masingale tied the contest with a free throw. A three and paint score for the Bears moved the margin to five in their favor, but Toni Warren's score with 35 seconds left put a cap on the half and brought Wofford within 29-26 at the break.
 
The teams traded blows early in the second half with Wofford pulling to within a point of Mercer three times in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the quarter. Libby Privett's free throw at the 2:40 mark pulled the Terriers within one point a fourth time, but a little over a minute later Masingale broke through for Wofford with a three, pushing the Terriers ahead 36-24. With under 30 seconds to go until the fourth, Madi Hawk struck from distance to create a 39-24 advantage entering the final frame.
 
Heating up from deep, the Terriers opened the fourth with yet another trey, this time by Maddie Heiss. Mercer gave a push to pull back within four, but Masingale put home a fastbreak paint score, drawing the foul and converting the and-one. This sparked a 13-point Terrier run that lasted almost three full minutes. Masingale's free throws bookended the run with the Terriers ahead 57-40 at the 3:34 mark. Five-straight points from Mercer provided what seemed to be life for a Bear comeback, but they simply ran out of time. Mercer pulled within single-digits at 58-49, but they only had 36 seconds to go. Matthews held firm at the stripe to close out the contest, sealing a 61-51 Terrier victory.
 
Wofford remains on the road for a Saturday tilt in Birmingham, Alabama. The Terriers are set to face Samford at 3:00 p.m. ET in the Pete Hanna Center with the contest streaming on ESPN+.