Friday, November 25
Houston, Texas
8:00 PM ET
Mercer University
5-1
64
at
60
Houston
1-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer | 16 | 10 | 22 | 16 | 64 |
| Houston | 17 | 12 | 18 | 13 | 60 |
Team Stats
MER
HOU
FG%
.352
.439
3FG%
.273
.304
FT%
.733
.200
RB
43
42
TO
16
28
STL
15
8
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF/G
/ Women's Basketball
Mercer Earns Hard-Fought Win Against Houston
11/25/2016 11:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HOUSTON, Texas – KeKe Calloway scored a game-high 19 points and Sydni Means added a season-high 18 points as the duo led the Mercer women's basketball team to a 64-60 win over Houston on Friday night.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The game was a back-and-forth affair and neither team took a commanding lead in the 40 minutes on the hardwood. In all, the contest featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, including two ties and four lead changes in the final 10 minutes.
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Mercer opened the game with a 6-2 spurt in the first two minutes, but Houston answered quickly and knotted the score, 8-8, less than two minutes later. Six straight Mercer points gave the Bears their largest lead of the game, 14-8, with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter. The Cougars closed out the period with a 7-2 run that put them up 17-16 when the buzzer sounded.
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The second period started slow but Mercer outscored Houston 6-1 in the first four minutes to go back up 22-18. The Cougars tied it back up, 22-22, with 4:32 left in the half and the teams proceeded to trade baskets for a few minutes. Once again, Houston had a strong showing at the end of the quarter and scored the last four points to take a 29-26 lead at halftime.
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Houston held on to its momentum as the third quarter started and worked its way to a 36-30 lead, its largest of the game, with 7:40 left in the period. Calloway drained a three-pointer to slow the Cougars down and start Mercer on a 17-5 run lasting 4:18 that put Mercer back up, 47-41. Houston hit a pair of treys and Mercer added a free throw in the final minutes of the quarter as the Bears held on to a slight 48-47 advantage at the beginning of the fourth period.
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Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter until Amanda Thompson hit a jumper with 7:46 on the clock. The Bears were in the lead until a Cougar layup with 5:27 remaining in the game. The layup started a 4:34 spurt during which neither team scored more than two consecutive points and the largest lead was Mercer's 60-58 advantage with 56 ticks left on the clock. Means' last layup in that back-and-forth sparked Mercer's final run of the night as the Bears outscored the Cougars 6-2 in the final minute to hold on to the win.
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NOTABLES
General thoughts on the game…
"It was a good win. Kahlia didn't have her best night, but Sydni came through for us and hit some big shots in the end, Amanda and Kayla were great on the offensive glass and KeKe had an outstanding game as well. It was a tough game, tough win; we didn't play our best but in the end we found a way."
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On the aggressive Houston defense…
"We knew that this was going to be their style and we figured we were going to have more turnovers than normal. We practice against guys when we can and they try to help us, but you can't really simulate Houston's style of play. We made some critical turnovers at bad times, but at the same time we held on to the ball when it counted most at the end."
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RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer heads back to Georgia and will make the short trip to Statesboro to take on Georgia Southern on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
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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.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The game was a back-and-forth affair and neither team took a commanding lead in the 40 minutes on the hardwood. In all, the contest featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, including two ties and four lead changes in the final 10 minutes.
Â
Mercer opened the game with a 6-2 spurt in the first two minutes, but Houston answered quickly and knotted the score, 8-8, less than two minutes later. Six straight Mercer points gave the Bears their largest lead of the game, 14-8, with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter. The Cougars closed out the period with a 7-2 run that put them up 17-16 when the buzzer sounded.
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The second period started slow but Mercer outscored Houston 6-1 in the first four minutes to go back up 22-18. The Cougars tied it back up, 22-22, with 4:32 left in the half and the teams proceeded to trade baskets for a few minutes. Once again, Houston had a strong showing at the end of the quarter and scored the last four points to take a 29-26 lead at halftime.
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Houston held on to its momentum as the third quarter started and worked its way to a 36-30 lead, its largest of the game, with 7:40 left in the period. Calloway drained a three-pointer to slow the Cougars down and start Mercer on a 17-5 run lasting 4:18 that put Mercer back up, 47-41. Houston hit a pair of treys and Mercer added a free throw in the final minutes of the quarter as the Bears held on to a slight 48-47 advantage at the beginning of the fourth period.
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Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter until Amanda Thompson hit a jumper with 7:46 on the clock. The Bears were in the lead until a Cougar layup with 5:27 remaining in the game. The layup started a 4:34 spurt during which neither team scored more than two consecutive points and the largest lead was Mercer's 60-58 advantage with 56 ticks left on the clock. Means' last layup in that back-and-forth sparked Mercer's final run of the night as the Bears outscored the Cougars 6-2 in the final minute to hold on to the win.
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NOTABLES
- KeKe Calloway led Mercer with 19 points and added a season-high-tying seven rebounds and a career-high five steals. Calloway went 6-for-6 from the free throw line, a career-best performance for the sophomore
- Sydni Means notched a season-high 18 points and had a season-high-tying three steals, four assists and three rebounds.
- Amanda Thompson pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds to lead the Bears on the boards. She also had eight points, a block and a steal.
- Kahlia Lawrence tallied nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists for the Bears.
- Linnea Rosendal added eight points, a rebound and an assist.
- Kayla Potts recorded a career-high eight rebounds, a season-high two steals, two assists and two points.
- Mercer outrebounded Houston, 43-42, and won the turnover battle, 16-28.
- The Bears grabbed a season-high 15 steals and scored 32 points off Cougar turnovers.
- Mercer's 5-1 record is the best start for the Bears under Coach Gardner. It is also the best start since Mercer went 8-1 at the beginning of the 1980-81 season.
General thoughts on the game…
"It was a good win. Kahlia didn't have her best night, but Sydni came through for us and hit some big shots in the end, Amanda and Kayla were great on the offensive glass and KeKe had an outstanding game as well. It was a tough game, tough win; we didn't play our best but in the end we found a way."
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On the aggressive Houston defense…
"We knew that this was going to be their style and we figured we were going to have more turnovers than normal. We practice against guys when we can and they try to help us, but you can't really simulate Houston's style of play. We made some critical turnovers at bad times, but at the same time we held on to the ball when it counted most at the end."
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RECORDS UPDATE
- Mercer: 5-1, 0-0 SoCon
- Houston: 1-4, 0-0 ACC
Mercer heads back to Georgia and will make the short trip to Statesboro to take on Georgia Southern on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
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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.
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