Mercer University
Chattanooga
Women's Basketball Comeback Falls Short in SoCon Championship
3/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Mercer University women's basketball team battled back from a fourth quarter double-digit deficit but was unable to come away with the victory against Chattanooga in the Southern Conference Championship game on Sunday, losing by a final score of 65-57.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With 4:07 left in regulation, sophomore Kahlia Lawrence buried a jump shot to give Mercer its first lead of the day at 54-53. The jumper capped a 10-0 run over a span of four minutes. However, the lead was short lived, as Chattanooga answered with a 9-0 spurt of its own to retake the lead at 62-54 with just over a minute to play. The Mocs went on to win by a final of 65-57.
The Mocs got off to a hot start, outscoring Mercer 11-2 in the opening three minutes of play. The Bears then battled back, scoring five straight to cut the deficit to four at 11-7. Chattanooga went on to score 10 of the quarter's final 16 points to take a 21-13 lead through the opening 10 minutes of play. The two sides played a fairly even second stanza, with UTC outscoring Mercer 12-11 to lead by a score of 33-24 at the halftime intermission.
The story of the first half was three-point shooting, as Chattanooga connected on 6-of-11 attempts while Mercer made 3-of-5 shots from beyond the arc. The Bears got a huge lift from its bench in the first 20 minutes, as the reserves accounted for 18 of the 24 points, led by freshman Keke Calloway who scored a team-high 13 points.
MERCER PLAYER OF THE GAME
Freshman KeKe Calloway scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Mercer offense. The Forsyth, Ga., native finished the game 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line. Calloway added two rebounds and a steal to complete her performance.
MERCER STAT OF THE GAME
The Mercer bench played a huge role in the title game, accounting for 28 of the team's 57 points. The Bears' reserves outscored the Mocs' bench 28-0. Calloway contributed 18 of the bench points, while Alex Williams added eight.
NOTABLES
- The SoCon Championship game appearance was Mercer's second ever conference tournament final in the program's NCAA DI era.
- The Orange and Black are now 2-13 in the all-time series with Chattanooga.
- With 18 points, Calloway finished in double figures for the 14th time this season
- Sydni Means scored 15 points, marking her 14th game with 10+ points on the year.
- Alex Williams led Mercer with eight rebounds and added eight points, an assist and a steal.
- Means dished out five assists and now has 181 on the season, ranking eighth on the Mercer single-season assist chart.
- Kahlia Lawrence also had eight points and four rebounds for the Bears.
- Rachel Selph blocked one shot and is now tied for sixth on the Mercer single-season blocks list with 43.
- Means also notched one steal to move into a tie for fourth on the Mercer single-season steals list with 78.
QUOTABLES
"Obviously, we're a disappointed locker room. We also know Chattanooga is a very good basketball team and they will represent the Southern Conference exceptionally well in the NCAA tournament. I would like to stray and say I'm so proud of Sydni (Means). I'm not going to say that there was someone on the (All-SoCon) first or second team that shouldn't have been on there, but I'm going to say that the Southern Conference knows who Sydni Means is now. I couldn't be more proud of the way she played these last few days. We've got a young team. I haven't said that, I've stayed away from saying we've had a young team, but we do. We got down 13 and we could have lost by 20, but we ended up getting the lead and we made it close and made it exciting. I'm proud of our players and very proud of our team." – Head Coach Susie Gardner
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer moves to 24-8 on the season and Chattanooga is now 24-7.
UP NEXT
Mercer will learn its post-season fate on Monday, March 14.
For all the latest information on Mercer women's basketball, please visit MercerBears.com or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Mercer basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @MercerWBB or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Mercerwbb.
