Calloway, Lawrence Lead The Bears In Midweek Win

Wednesday, November 16

Macon, Ga.

7:00 PM ET

Mercer University

2-1

Campbell

1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	F
CAMPBELL	8	20	21	11	60
Mercer	18	18	19	21	76

PDF Box Score

Photo courtesy of Judy Stapleton

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

Calloway, Lawrence Lead The Bears In Midweek Win

11/16/2016 10:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – The Bears were in the lead for all but the first 10 seconds as KeKe Calloway and Kahlia Lawrence led the Mercer women's basketball team to a solid 76-60 win over Campbell on Wednesday evening.

Lawrence had her best game of the season, setting new highs in points (29), rebounds (9) and steals (3). The junior also went 9-for-10 in free throws, her best performance of the year from the charity stripe.

Calloway also topped 20 points as she scored 22 for the Bears and set a season high in free throws with a 4-for-4 outing.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Lawrence took control from the beginning, hitting her first shot just 10 seconds into the game. The first quarter was perhaps the Bears' most dominant period as they outscored the Camels 18-8, outrebounded them, 14-9, and did not commit a single turnover. Lawrence was also dominant as she scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.

Campbell scored the first basket of the second period, but Mercer answered with an 8-3 spurt that pushed its lead to 26-13 with 8:05 remaining until halftime. The teams traded threes before the Camels went on a 12-4 run to end the half and cut Mercer's lead to 36-28.

The third quarter was fairly evenly matched as neither team gained momentum during the 10 minutes. The Camels outscored the Bears 21-19 in the third period, but Mercer maintained the advantage, 55-49, at the end of the quarter.

A quick 6-0 run to open the final period pushed Mercer's lead back to double-digits, 61-49, with 8:23 to play. The Camels added five points to try and slow the Bears down, but Lawrence hit a jumper with 7:06 on the clock that sparked a 14-2 Mercer run which lasted just over five minutes and stretched the Bears' lead to 75-56. Campbell outscored Mercer 4-1 in the final two minutes, but was unable to change the outcome as the Bears cruised to the 76-60 victory.

NOTABLES

Kahlia Lawrence set season highs with 29 points, nine rebounds, three steals, 10 made field goals and a 9-for-10 outing at the free throw line.
Lawrence reached double-digits for the third time this season and 20+ points for the first time.
KeKe Calloway added 22 points, a career-high-tying four assists and a season-high-tying three rebounds.
Calloway has also scored in double-figures in all three games this season, joining Lawrence as the only players on the team to do so.
Alex Williams scored six points, grabbed a season-high four rebounds and tallied two blocks.
Sydni Means notched six points, a season-high eight assists, three steals and two rebounds.
Amanda Thompson tallied five points, three rebounds, two steals and a block.
Linnea Rosendal added five points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Mercer won the turnover battle, 8-18, committing just one turnover in the fourth quarter and none in the first.
The Bears outrebounded the Camels, 36-34.
Mercer had 10 steals and 22 points off turnovers for the night.
Mercer also tallied a season-high 82.6 percent from the free throw line.

COACH GARDNER'S TAKE
General thoughts on the game…
"We were trying to work on our defense and we struggled with that a little bit. I thought Kahlia was back and played a great game for us and obviously KeKe scored for us, but we need to have a little bit more balanced attack offensively in our scoring. We got up, we let them back in and then we found a way. The first quarter and the fourth quarter were our two good quarters, but we have to be a little more consistent in our total game."

On the points off turnovers…
"We only had four points in transition in the first half. We talked about that at halftime and told Sydni to put more pressure on the ball. I thought when she put pressure on the ball that allowed our wings to get out and get steals, which helped us. That was a big plus to our second half."

RECORDS UPDATE

Mercer: 2-1, 0-0 SoCon
Campbell: 1-1, 0-0 Big South

UP NEXT
Mercer will host Florida Atlantic on Friday at 7 p.m. at Hawkins Arena.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerWBB (Twitter), /MercerWBB (Facebook) and @MercerWBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.