ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop freshman Danyael Goodhope scored a season-high 15 points and Erica Williams recorded 11, but it wasn't nearly enough to offset Kahlia Lawrence's game-high 27 points as the Eagles dropped a 71-48 non-conference contest to Mercer on Sunday afternoon.

The loss was Winthrop's 10^th straight and drops its record to 1-10 while Mercer improves to 9-2 and now leads the all-time series 8-3.

Lawrence scored 17 of her points in the first half while KeKe Calloway had 11 of her 15 points in the opening two quarters to help Mercer take a commanding 42-14 lead at halftime.  As a team Mercer connected on 50 percent from the floor in the first half, including 5 of 11 from behind the 3-point arc.

Mercer finished the game shooting 45 percent (26-58) compared to 33 percent for Winthrop (20-61). 
Winthrop took an early 4-0 lead after Goodhope made a steal and finished with a layup in the first 10 seconds, and CiiCii Buford converted two free throws 45 seconds later.  Mercer scored its first six of its first seven points from the free throw line before Lawrence and Calloway began to warm up from the perimeter.

The Bears took the lead for good at 9-6 on a five-footer by Lawrence with 5:31 remaining in the first quarter.  She and Calloway combined to score Mercers next 28 points as the Bears took control of the game with a 37-12 lead with just over two minutes left in the first half.

Mercer took its largest lead of the day at 30 points when Amanda Thompson connected on a 3-pointer with 2:51 left in the third period to put the Bears ahead 58-28. 

Winthrop opened the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run to get to within 22 points at 62-40 with 4:06 left in the game. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Noell Kellers highlighted the run. 

Winthrop's next game will be on Wednesday when the Eagles travel to Columbus, OH to take on the 12^th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes who have one of the nation's top scorers in Kelsey Mitchell.  The Buckeyes are 9-3 on the season.