Mercer University
High Point
Women's Basketball Scores 75-67 Win at High Point
11/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Mercer captured its first victory of the year, moving to 1-5 on the season while High Point saw its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-2.
"When people look at the results they will see [Briana Williams] had 33 points," Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. "In reality, that was a small part of the reason we won. There were a lot of lessons learned in this game and it took every single one of us."
With Mercer trailing 52-43 with 8:58 to go, freshman Alicia Williams got free for a three pointer on the wing and later scored a reverse layup on the fast break to bring the Bears back to within four (52-48). Her five-straight points sparked a 16-0 run for Mercer that elapsed just over four minutes.
Mercer would push its lead to as many as 11 before the final buzzer. Towards the end, High Point was forced to intentionally foul in hopes of mounting a comeback. In the final minute of play, Mercer hit 10 of its 12 free throws to seal the victory.
"We grew as a team tonight," Gardner said. "We got down but we didn't fold, we just kept fighting back. It felt great and is very important as we go into conference play next weekend."
Briana Williams collected her 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor, including three-of-five shooting from long range. She also had two rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist in the win.
Junior Alex Phillips grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in the win, nine of which came on the defensive end of the floor. Phillips also tallied seven points and two blocks in 30 minutes of play.
Alicia Williams finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting Friday. She also booked four assists, two steals and had zero turnovers in 31 minutes of action.
"They fouled out three of our post players and at the end of the game we had to have Alicia Williams playing at a new position," Gardner said. "We had a lineup in the game that had never played together and they were able to get stops."
Alicia Williams cracked the scoring with a pull up jumper, putting Mercer on top 2-0. The early lead marked the fifth straight game Mercer has scored the opening basket. Moments later, Briana Williams got a fast-break layup to go and Mercer entered to the first media break down 6-4.
Mercer found itself behind 14-9 before Briana Williams came off a screen and buried a triple at the 10:44 mark, trimming the deficit to two. Williams' trey sparked the sophomore, who canned two more threes in the next 1:31 to put the Bears on top, 17-14.
Mercer held that lead until High Point climbed back in front 25-23 with 3:07 to play. Mercer proved resilient, closing the half on an 8-3 run to go into intermission ahead, 31-28.
Mercer returns to action with its Atlantic Sun conference opener at Lipscomb on December 1. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.
