MACON, GA - The Gardner-Webb women's basketball team (0-3, 0-0 Big South) trailed in the fourth quarter on Monday night at Mercer (2-1, 0-0 SoCon) and had its rally come up just short in a 61-56 defeat

Much like Saturday afternoon at West Georgia, Gardner-Webb shot the ball well to take a 19-16 lead through one quarter. Senior guard Nyla Walker, fresh off a career-high 23 points on Saturday, stayed in good form for GWU with 9 first quarter points, including a fast break three just before the horn.

Walker continued to pace Gardner-Webb in the second quarter as well, including a crafty layup with 9:16 to go that gave the Runnin' Bulldogs a brief 21-18 lead. Freshman forward Kamille Henriksen also played some of her best minutes of the season with three points and a steal in the second, before Mercer took a 33-29 lead into halftime.

Gardner-Webb and Mercer went toe to toe in the third, where Mercer would leave with a 46-43 lead. Junior forward Amira Ofunniyin played huge minutes for Gardner-Webb scoring eight points between the 5:34 mark and 1:42 mark of the frame, helping keep the Runnin' Bulldogs firmly in the game. The eight points by Ofunniyin came in a stretch of ten points by Gardner-Webb.

With 9:40 remaining in the game, freshman forward Makayla Legette tied the score at 46-46 with a deep three. Gardner-Webb finally regained the lead with 5:38 to play, when Legette got free for a layup to make it 51-50. Mercer responded with a 9-0 run over the next 2:56 to jump back in front 59-51, putting the game away. Late free throws from Walker brought GWU as close again as three with 14 seconds remaining

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
GWU shot 22-of-53 for the game, including five made threes from five different players, the Dawgs had two double-digit scorers in Walker and Legette, and finished plus-four with a 13-9 advantage on the offensive glass

LEADERS
Walker continued to score at a solid pace with 16 points, Legette knocked down five shots from the field to finish with a career-high 11 in her young college career, while Ofunniyin recorded eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs return to action on Thursday night, November 13th at Virginia Tech. Tip-off in Blacksburg is set for 6 pm