Mercer Opens SoCon Tournament on Thursday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Top-seeded Mercer will begin its title defense when it faces No. 8 seed Western Carolina at 11 a.m. Thursday at the U.S. Cellular Center in the first round of the 2019 Ingles Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale.

The Bears (22-7, 14-0 SoCon) enter the tournament as the defending champions, having defeated ETSU in the 2018 SoCon Tournament title game to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Mercer went undefeated in SoCon regular season play to earn the tournament's top seed for the second straight year.

Thursday's tournament-opening game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and "Voice of the Bears" Rick Cameron will have the call on the Mercer Sports Network. Fans can tune into the Mercer Sports Network on 100.9 FM The Creek or the SportsMic app. For all information on the SoCon Women's Basketball Tournament, visit the tournament central page.

BEAR NECESSITIES
Date/Time: Thursday, March 7 | 11 a.m.
Teams: #1 Mercer (22-7, 14-0 SoCon) vs. #8 Western Carolina (4-25, 0-14 SoCon)
Location: Asheville, N.C. | U.S. Cellular Center
Live Stats: SoConSports.com
TV: ESPN+ (Pete Yanity, PxP; Robin Muller, Color; Stormy Buonantony, Sideline)
Radio: 100.9 FM The Creek | SportsMic
Tickets: SoConSports.com
Game Notes: Mercer | Western Carolina
Twitter Updates: @MercerWBB

SERIES HISTORY VS. CATAMOUNTS
Mercer is a perfect 16-0 all-time against the Catamounts, including 12-0 during Susie Gardner's tenure. The Bears have faced Western Carolina once in the SoCon Tournament, defeating the Catamounts 75-44 in the opening round of last year's tournament. Mercer swept the season series this year with a 69-67 win in Cullowhee and a 71-55 win in Macon.

SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA
The Catamounts went winless during SoCon regular season play this season and own a 4-25 overall record entering the tournament. Jewel Smalls was named the SoCon Media Association's Freshman of the Year this week after averaging 11.0 points per game. She is the only Catamount averaging double figure points.

ADDING TO THE TROPHY CASE
Mercer's Susie Gardner Amanda Thompson, KeKe Calloway and Shannon Titus earned a handful of individual honors when the SoCon announced its 2018-19 specialty awards and all-conference honors on Tuesday.

Thompson and Calloway were named the Players of the Year by the coaches and media, respectively. Gardner was named Coach of the Year for the second straight year and third time in four years. Thompson and Calloway, who also earned All-SoCon First Team honors, were joined by Titus as a Second Team and All-Defensive Team selection. Thompson is Mercer's fifth consecutive player of the year as voted on by the coaches, while Calloway is Mercer's fifth consecutive player of the year as voted on by the media.

WHAT A RIDE
KeKe Calloway, Linnea Rosendal, Rachel Selph, Amanda Thompson and Ally Welch will leave Mercer as its most decorated women's basketball senior class. The five seniors earned their 101th career victory in the regular season finale and are 101-26 overall since the start of the 2015-16 season, their freshman year at Mercer. This senior class is the winningest four-year class in program history. They have been members of each of Mercer's four SoCon regular season title teams.

DOING IT ALL
Amanda Thompson has been the glue of this year's team, as she has tallied 16 double-double efforts so far through 29 games played. Thompson has been at her best in SoCon play this season, averaging 14.6 points and 12.0 rebounds per game. The North Carolina native is the league's leading rebounder and has
tallied double-digit boards in 16 of her last 19 games. Thompson entered the week ranked 14th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (4.0). She has also shined in the classroom as she was one of five players named to the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Team last week.

DON'T LET HER HEAT UP
Mercer's most lethal scorer all season has been KeKe Calloway, who averaged 17.8 points overall and 16.8 points in conference play. The now two-time All-SoCon First Team pick finished third in the league in scoring and has 13 games with 20 or more points. Calloway has also assumed the primary role of point guard for the Bears, leading them with 3.8 assists per game. She has dished out seven or more assists in three of her last four games.

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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Players Mentioned

KeKe Calloway

Linnea Rosendal

Rachel Selph

Amanda Thompson

Shannon Titus

Ally Welch

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