GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jada Session converted a layup with 9.5 seconds remaining to give Furman a 72-70 victory over Mercer in Southern Conference women's basketball action Thursday evening at Hayes Gymnasium on the campus of North Greenville University.

After Mercer's Nahawa Diarra's jump shot gave the Bears a 70-68 lead with a minute remaining, Furman tied it with a pair of Kate Johnson free throws with 48 seconds to go.  On the ensuing possession, Furman's Sydney Ryan forced a heldball to give the Paladins possession with 35 seconds remaining.  Furman utilized much of the possession before Jaelyn Acker collected a pass on the right wing and fed Session on the block, where she put down the layup for the game winning points.

Mercer's attempt to tie the game following a timeout failed as Stephanie Utomi's follow on an offensive rebound did not leave her hands before time expired, as confirmed upon review.

The victory gave Furman (14-13, 4-7 SoCon) the regular season sweep of Mercer (7-19, 2-9 SoCon) heading into the Paladins' 7:00 p.m. home season finale on Saturday versus Samford.

Ryan scored eight of her 16 points in the decisive fourth quarter, shaking off 3-for-11 shooting over the first three periods to connect on 3-of-4 field goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, over the final 10 minutes.  She also added two of her game high four steals in the fourth period to help Furman overcome a 63-56 deficit with six minutes remaining.  

Ryan's first triple of the quarter trimmed Mercer's advantage to 63-59, and her second trey with three minutes to go pulled the Paladins to within 66-64.

Johnson matched Ryan for team high scoring honors with 16 points and had eight caroms, helping Furman forge a 42-30 edge on the boards.

Session finished with 14 points and a game high nine rebounds.  Tate Walters rounded out Furman's double figure scorers with 11 points, which she combined with seven assists.

Mercer's Talia Harris led all scorers with 20 points, which she complemented with seven assists, and Diarra finished with 14 points.

Mercer, which entered the game shooting just 24.4 percent from 3-point range on the season, found the mark against Furman, hitting on 7-of-13 beyond the arc (53.8%) on the way to 45.6 percent shooting (26x47) from the field.

The Paladins shot 40.6 percent from the field (26x64) and countered the Bears' edge on the perimeter ing by outscoring Mercer 40-26 in the paint.