Mercer Pulls Away For 68-47 Win at Furman

Saturday, February 18

Greenville, S.C.

2:00 PM ET

Mercer University

22-5, 11-2SoCon

Furman

14-14, 7-5SoCon

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Mercer	4	22	25	17	68
Furman	11	12	8	16	47

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Photo by: Judy Stapleton

2/18/2017 5:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Alex Williams scores game-high 16 points; Amanda Thompson hauls in 13 boards

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Mercer outscored Furman by nearly 30 points over the final three quarters of play to come away with a dominant 68-47 victory in Southern Conference play Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

After a lackluster first quarter display that resulted in the Paladins leading 11-4, Mercer turned up the intensity and outgained Furman 64-36 the rest of the way. It was Mercer's (22-5, 11-2 SoCon) fifth straight win as it remained atop the SoCon standings with one game remaining on its regular season schedule.

Alex Williams paced Mercer with a game-high 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting and tied a career-high with six steals. Mercer created havoc for the host Paladins (14-14, 7-5), forcing 22 turnovers and converting them into 29 points. Amanda Thompson hauled in 13 rebounds while KeKe Calloway (15) and Linnea Rosendal (11) reached double-figure points.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer was just 2-of-17 from the field in a tough first quarter, but a pair of runs in the second and third frames quickly changed the game's momentum for good. A 10-0 run over a two-minute stretch in the second highlighted Mercer's 22-point output en route to a three-point lead at the halftime intermission.

Linnea Rosendal knocked down a trio of three-pointers to key a 12-0 run in the third quarter that eventually put Mercer up by 20 points, 49-29, heading into the fourth. The Bears led by as many as 30 points in the final quarter before sealing the victory.

NOTABLES

Mercer has three stretches of five or more consecutive wins this season.
Saturday marked Mercer's sixth straight head-to-head win against Furman, increasing its lead to 11-4 in the all-time series. The last three meetings have resulted in wins of 14 points or more by the Bears.
In ten of 11 league wins this season, Mercer has held its opponent under 60 points. Mercer's last three opponents have been held to 47 points or less.
Mercer has 10 games this season in which it has forced its foe into 20 or more turnovers.
Despite a quiet performance of seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, Kahlia Lawrence became the SoCon's active career scoring leader with 1,539 points.
Calloway's two treys earned her a spot on the program's single-season made three-pointer list. Rosendal joined Mercer's career three-pointer leaderboard with her trio made behind the arc.
Sydni Means was scoreless for the first time in 48 games but dished out nine assists with zero turnovers.

COACH GARDNER'S TAKE
"We got off to a rough start today, but got back into it with our defensive effort. Our defense created some really easy baskets for us and then we had a great third-quarter performance – I was proud of our team for that.

"Sydni [Means] and Kahlia [Lawrence] did not have their best offensive games in terms of scoring, but I was really proud of how Alex [Williams] came in and gave us a spark with 16 points and six steals. KeKe [Calloway] and Linnea [Rosendal] hit shots…it was great to see others step up when they were needed."

RECORDS UPDATE

Mercer: 22-5 (11-2 SoCon)
Furman: 14-14 (7-5 SoCon)

UP NEXT

Mercer: at Samford on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.
Furman: at Chattanooga on Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

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.