Mercer Falters In Second Half At Georgia in 72-64 Loss

Sunday, November 13

Athens, Ga.

2:00 PM ET

Mercer University

1-1

Georgia

2-0

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Mercer	13	17	17	17	64
Georgia	14	10	27	21	72

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Mercer Falters In Second Half At Georgia in 72-64 Loss

11/13/2016 5:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – KeKe Calloway scored a career-high 24 points to lead Mercer on Sunday afternoon, but it was not enough to sustain the Bears as the women's basketball team fell to Georgia, 72-64.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer took control of the game early and surged to a 12-5 lead in the first quarter. Georgia found its footing towards the end of the quarter and outscored the Bears, 9-1 in the final 3:05 of the period to take a 14-13 lead. Mercer opened the second quarter with a 9-3 run of its own to retake the lead, 21-17, with 5:13 remaining in the half. A three-pointer from the Lady Bulldogs interrupted the Bears' momentum, but a layup from Kahlia Lawrence sparked another 9-4 run to close out the half and give Mercer a 30-24 advantage heading into halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs came out swinging in the second half and outscored the Bears 7-1 in the first 3:13 to tie the game, 31-31. Mercer answered with a 6-0 spurt, but another 8-3 Georgia run cut the lead to 40-39 with 3:38 left in the third quarter. Mercer continued to fight, but the Lady Bulldogs closed out the period with a 12-7 run that gave them a 51-47 lead.

Four quick Mercer points to open the final period tied the game, 51-51, for the fifth time. The teams traded baskets for the next five minutes, resulting in three more ties and three lead changes. Georgia took the lead for the last time with 2:49 on the clock as the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Bears 15-7 in the final minutes to grab the 72-64 win.

NOTABLES

KeKe Calloway led Mercer with a career-high 24 points off career-high shooting (10-of-22). Calloway also hit a season-high four treys and grabbed two rebounds and a steal.
Kahlia Lawrence also scored in double figures for Mercer, tallying 13 points for the Bears. Lawrence also had four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Sydni Means notched nine points, a career-high-tying eight rebounds, five assists and a season-high three steals. Means went 5-for-6 from the free throw line, setting a season high in both makes and attempts.
Alex Williams recorded eight points and two rebounds while also notching season highs of two assists and two steals.
Amanda Thompson scored a season-high-tying seven points and set season highs of seven rebounds, two steals and one assist.
Linnea Rosendal added three points, a season-high three rebounds and an assist.
Mercer led for a majority of the game, including 14:27 of the first half.
The Bears connected on 37.1 percent of their shots, while Georgia shot 46.4 percent from the field.
Mercer won the turnover battle, 14-20, and capitalized on Georgia's mistakes, scoring 21 points off turnovers.

COACH GARDNER'S TAKE
General thoughts on the game…
"I was really proud of our players; obviously in the first half, we played really well. I think we held Georgia to 24 points in the first half and then in the third quarter they scored 27. They made some adjustments but they were taller than us at every position and we battled. We just made some key mistakes at really bad times that put them ahead."

On Mercer's defense in the first half…
"Well obviously with their size we were trying to keep the ball out of the paint and we did. We were going to dare them to take threes and I think they were 1-for-11 from three in the first half. They were only 3-for-17 for the game, so we didn't feel like three-point shooting was where they could hurt us. We knew they could hurt us in size because they're bigger and I thought that they capitalized on that."

RECORDS UPDATE

Mercer: 1-1, 0-0 SoCon
Georgia: 2-0, 0-0 SEC

UP NEXT
The Bears will be back at Hawkins Arena on Wednesday to host Campbell. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m.

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.