STATESBORO – Keke Calloway netted 32 points, including 18 of Mercer's last 20, to lead the Bears to a 79-72 non-conference women's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Monday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

The back-and-forth contest featured 32 ties and 12 lead changes.

Eagles of the Game
Tatum Barber scored a career-high 14 points off the bench and added a pair of rebounds for the Eagles (0-3). Alexis Brown tallied 19 points, six rebounds and two assists and made 14-of-18 from the free-throw line.

Key moment
Trailing 64-59, Mercer (1-1) held the Eagles without a field goal for the last 6:12 of the contest and outscored Georgia Southern 20-8 with Calloway netting 18. A Nakol Franks free-throw got the Eagles to within a point at 71-70 with 44 seconds left, but Calloway drilled a step-back triple from the top of the key and added three free throws after Mercer defensive stops to extend the margin to 77-70 with 13 seconds remaining.

Stat of the Game
The Eagles hit a season-high 44 percent from the field and made 25-of-37 from the free-throw line, compared to 8-of-12 for Mercer.

Quotables from head coach Kip Drown
"We got the ball in some great places, and I was pleased with that. We thought we had the capability of being a good offensive team, and that's starting show. The good thing is that we can correct all the Xs and Os stuff. That's coaching, and we'll get better at that. The thing I feel good about is how we competed for 40 minutes. That's a good basketball team, and we played really hard and got after them. That's a real step in the right direction. Shooting the ball better is a positive but even more important is how we competed and didn't let things get us down, which we have had a tendency to do."

Next up
The Eagles play their third game in six days when they travel to Savannah State Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest in Tiger Arena.