DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman Women's Basketball is set to host the final home game of the 2024 calendar year Saturday, Nov. 30, when the Mercer Bears descend upon Richard V. Moore Gymnasium at 2 p.m. The game will serve as a "Gold Out" with Wildcats fans encouraged to wear gold.
 
What: Game Seven
Who: Bethune-Cookman (2-4) vs. Mercer Bears (3-5)
When: Saturday, Nov. 30, at 2 p.m.
Where: Daytona Beach, Fla. – Richard V. Moore Gymnasium (1,000)
 
Watch: CatEye Network
Live Stats: Click Here
 
IN THE RANKINGS
▪ Bethune-Cookman is not ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25
▪ Mercer is not ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with everything Bethune-Cookman Women's Basketball this season by following the Wildcats social media platforms. You can follow @BCU_WBB on Instagram and @BCUWBB on X/Twitter.
 
FAN INFORMATION/PROMOTIONS
▪ Doors open one hour prior to tip-off at the South entrance of Richard V. Moore Gymnasium.
▪ The clear bag policy is in effect for all Bethune-Cookman Athletics events.
▪ Theme: Gold Out
▪ All Bethune-Cookman fans are encouraged to wear GOLD for the game.
 
NEWS & NOTES
▪ Senior guard Shomari Phillips was named Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Newcomer of the Week for the period of November 27 through December 3.
▪ Last week, Phillips helped B-CU with seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists in a 117-34 win over Trinity Baptist. Away to Virginia, the Winter Haven High alum scored in double figures for the first time as a Wildcat, pouring in a team-high 14 points on 4 of 9 from three-point range.
▪ Bethune-Cookman has won three consecutive games at home dating back to last season and an 84-43 victory over SWAC foe Alabama State on February 26, 2024.
▪ The Cats hold a plus-eight scoring margin over their opponents as B-CU is averaging 68.3 points per game, while at the same time holding opponents to just 60.3 ppg.
▪ B-CU is shooting just 59.4 percent from the free throw line while having taken 143 attempts in comparison to opponents just 89 altogether. In fact, the Cats have attempted more free throws than their opponent in all but one game.
▪ Kayla White leads the offensive attack with 18 assists, followed by Jordan Brooks (14) and Karianna Woods (14) as three different players have double-digit assists on the campaign.
▪ Freshman center Mya Johnson has bounced back from an early injury to see action in a pair of games, including the last outing at Virginia where she scored two points and grabbed down three rebounds.
▪ Head Coach Janell Crayton Del Rosario went with a new lineup at Virgnia as Asianae Nicholson earned her first start of the year. Crayton Del Rosario had used the same lineup throughout the first five games, respectfully.
 
BCU VS. MERCER SERIES
▪ Bethune-Cookman leads all-time series with Mercer by a 2-1 margin
▪ The Wildcats took last year's meeting in Macon, Georgia, by a 60-58 decision.
▪ B-CU took the first meeting in the series, 106-58 back on Dec. 7, 1985, in Daytona Beach.
▪ This will be just the second-ever contest between the two sides in Daytona Beach.
 
LAST TIME VERSUS MERCER
Chanel Wilson's driving layup with 4.3 seconds remaining lifted Bethune-Cookman to a 60-58 come-from-behind victory at Mercer inside Hawkins Arena. After leading almost the entirety of the first three quarters, Bethune-Cookman suddenly saw itself looking up at a 49-45 deficit heading into the fourth quarter. Mercer ended the third quarter on a 9-2 run, thanks in part to baskets coming from Stacie Jones in the paint, as well as free throws from Maria Serracanta.
 
Facing one of the tallest teams its seen all season, BCU was outscored 24-11 in the third period.
 
A Deja Williams putback jumper pushed the Mercer lead out to its largest of the game at 56-49 with 5:27 remaining in regulation. BCU's Wilson answered moments later with her fourth three-pointer of the afternoon, cutting the deficit back to four for the Wildcats. That jumper sparked a 7-0 run for BCU as McDonald connected on a jumper in the paint stemming from a shot clock violation charged to the Bears. Another turnover was converted into a layup for the guests as McDonald's driving basket tied the game at 56-all with 2:37 remaining in the fourth quarter. Once again, it was Jones able to work herself behind the BCU defense and put her side back up by two (58-56). However, BCU graduate student guard Wilson – a native of Powder Springs, Georgia – answered for her team with a pull-up jumper just outside the paint to knot the game at 58-58.
 
After turnovers from both teams in equal possessions, Mercer had a chance to step ahead with 15 seconds showing on the clock as Jones went to the foul line. She missed both free throws as D'Shantae Edwards hauled in the rebound off the second miss. That set the stage for Wilson to go one-on-one with Mercer's Briana Peguero and knifing to the hole for the game-winning basket. In the fourth quarter, Wilson was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, while McDonald was 4 of 5 shooting, as the pair combined for all 15 of the team's points in the final stanza. Bethune-Cookman led 34-25 at the half behind the play of Kayla Clark and Kerrighan Dunn.
 
The Wildcats scored 20 points in the opening quarter behind point guard Edwards as she accumulated six first half points to go along with three steals. Dunn led all BCU players with nine (9) first half points – seven of those coming in the second quarter. On the day, BCU limited the Bears to just 3 of 7 shooting from long range, including slowing the hot-shooting Peguero to just 10 points. The Cats were able to get back to the foul line in the contest, converting 73.3 percent of those opportunities. But it was the points in the paint that stood out as the Cats outscored the taller Bears by a 28-26 advantage in the post. BCU also turned 19 Mercer miscues into 15 points, while the Wildcats bench outscored the Bears 15-13 in that department.
 
Mercer was led on the day by Jones with 14 points, followed in double-figures scoring by Summah Evans (12) and Peguero (10). Evans led the rebounding efforts of the Bears with eight. BCU was charged in scoring by Wilson with 18 points, adding to her team-high matching six rebounds and two steals. Daimoni Dorsey also had six rebounds off the bench, while teammate O'Mariyah Tucker registered six boards of her own. Edwards finished with a pair of assists and five steals.
 
SCOUTING MERCER
▪ Mercer arrives to Daytona Beach with a record of 3-5 on the year which includes notable wins against UNC Asheville and North Carolina A&T – both games coming inside Hawkins Arena in Macon.
▪ With a common opponent on the schedule early on, Mercer fell to Florida Atlantic on the road, 58-48.
▪ The Bears are scoring an average of 53.5 points per game and shooting at a 37.4 percent clip from the field.
▪ The team is shooting just 17.8 percent from three-point territory.
▪ Mercer is led in scoring by Ariana Bennett (9.0 ppg). She is followed by Ashlee Locke (8.4 ppg) and Aspen Johnson (8.1 ppg).
▪ Hanna Knoll leads the Bears in three-pointers with six. Kayla Smith has five (5) three-pointers of her own.
▪ Locke is the Bears leader in rebounds (59), as she has pulled down 18 on the offensive end. She also tops the Bears in blocks (9), and she sits second in steals (11).
▪ Two players have 15 assists – Aliyah Collins and Locke.
 
RECAPPING B-CU'S LAST GAME (at Virginia)
Olivia McGhee had 20 points and Breona Hurd finished with 15 in leading the Virginia Cavaliers to an 82-48 win over visiting Bethune-Cookman at John Paul Jones Arena. Virginia led 39-14 at the half thanks in large part to Bethune-Cookman going scoreless for large spans across the opening two quarters. That allowed Virginia several runs to eventually widen the lead to an insurmountable mark.
 
The Cavaliers jumped out to a 15-5 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.
 
It would take Bethune-Cookman almost five minutes to finally open its scoring account courtesy a Kayla White fade away from the left corner. Facing a tall UVA squad – one of the tallest the Cats will see all season, B-CU looked towards outside shooting, but were ultimately 0 of 4 from long range in the first quarter, and just 2-for-16 shooting from the field in that frame – added an Asianae Nicholson driving layup moments before the end of the quarter. The second quarter saw UVA score 14 of their 22 first half points in the paint, as well as 12 points off the bench. In all, the Cavs outscored the Cats 24-9 in the quarter with Olivia McGhee and Kymora Johnson combining for 21 of those points, respectively. Johnson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field adding a pair of free throws. And it was McGhee finishing 4-for-5 from the floor with a three-pointer. B-CU went just over six minutes into the period without a field goal until Shomari Phillips' three-pointer with 3:37 remaining in the half. That allowed the Maroon and Gold to cut into the lead, 31-9. Phillips, a transfer guard from Winter Haven, Florida, drained her second three of the afternoon to make it 34-12. A 6-0 Cavaliers run was stopped on the strength of a Mya Johnson tip-in with 16 seconds remaining for the Miami freshman's second field goal of the season after missing the first three games with an injury.
 
In the first half, the Cavaliers shot just under 46 percent from the field, and limited B-CU to just a 15 percent clip on a 5-for-33 effort shooting. Free throws continued to plague the Cats in the first half as well with B-CU shooting just 2-for-8 from the charity stripe. Daimoni Dorsey worked her way onto the score sheet in the third quarter with three points alongside Phillips' three-points in the period, while Kayla White and Nicholson also provided scoring for B-CU in a 12-points Wildcats quarter. Bethune-Cookman turned in its best scoring output in the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run towards the latter stages. White poured in nine points in the period with five coming at the foul line. The Cats would shoot 46.7 percent in the final stanza using Phillips with five points to aid White, as well as a Janessa Kelley three-pointer.
 
The Cavaliers were led by McGhee's 20 points and Hurd's 15. Johnson touched double figures with 14, and Taylor Lauterbach scored seven in the final period to give her 10 points and a double-digit output on the day. Latasha Lattimore supplied a game-high 13 rebounds, while Hurd (12) and Lauterbach (10) registered double-doubles. Yonta Vaughn handed out a game-high nine assists.
 
B-CU was led in scoring by Phillips (14) and White (13). Nicholson had eight rebounds to lead all Wildcats. But it was senior center Kayla Clark struggling on the day with six rebounds and just one (1) point on 0-for-9 shooting from the field. White also distributed five assists for the Cats and pulled in a game-high four steals off the bench. In fact, B-CU outscored UVA 9-8 in points off turnovers, as well as outpacing the Cavaliers 33-32 in bench points.
 
UP NEXT
Bethune-Cookman will have a week off before venturing to the Wildcats' second Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent of the season at Miami (Fla.) in Coral Gables on Sunday, Dec. 8.
 
Follow Bethune-Cookman Women's Basketball on X/Twitter (@BCUWBB) and Instagram (@BCU_WBB) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (@BCUAthletics), Instagram (@BCU_Athletics) and BCUathletics.com.