women’s basketball

Women’s basketball looks to improve upon last year

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Published Oct 24, in Sports, W. Basketball

In the 2012-13 season, the Mercer women’s basketball team is looking to prove their doubters wrong. Head coach Susie Gardner enters her third season at the helm for the Bears, and she assures it’s going to be a great year for the team.
“We’ve been practicing for a long time. Women’s basketball allows us to start the season rather early. We started on Oct. 4 and we were able to have a great fall break where we could have two-a-days, so we’ve gotten a lot of things accomplished,” said Gardner. “Our program’s growing, we’re still building. We’re not there yet but we are taking steps in the right direction.”
For the first time under Susie Gardner’s direction, the Bears will have a veteran squad hitting the court. Consisting of three seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and one freshman, the Mercer women’s basketball team is going to be looking for veteran leadership on and off the court.
“We only have two new players on the team, so I have a majority of people who can run a drill rather than our coaches running a drill. So you can feel the flow of practice going a lot better,” mentioned Gardner.
Unfortunately for the Bears, their leading point earner from last year is not available during this season. Junior guard Briana Williams is out for the 2012-13 season, with a tear in her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Last year, the star guard averaged 17.5 points per game. Her presence will be missed on the court.
“With Briana getting hurt, we had a game plan in place as a coaching staff and that had to be tweaked overnight, but I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Gardner said.
With Williams out, the Bears are going to have to look for other sources to make baskets for the team. One of those sources is senior forward Ry’van Buchanan. Last season, Buchanan averaged 10.8 points per game as well as 5.3 rebounds per game. Her efforts last season were enough to get her named to the Atlantic Sun’s Preseason All-Conference Team.
Another player the Bears are looking forward to having back is redshirt junior, Kendra Grant. Grant has had to sit out due to several knee injuries, but she is back this year and ready to perform at the best of her ability.
“It was very difficult. Going from being able to play out there to just sitting out on the sidelines was difficult. But I’m ready now to get back out there and pick up where I left off,” Grant said.
Last season, the women’s basketball team was within 10 points of the opposing squad in several games. Unfortunately, they were unable to close out the majority of those games.
“You can try to simulate time and score situations in practice,” Gardner said. “Hopefully with the experience of going through those games in the past we can come out on the correct end of those this year.”
The women’s basketball team hits the court for the first time this season on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at Hawkins Arena for an exhibition match versus Francis Marion.

Lady Bears start high, end low over winter break

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Published Jan 25, in Sports, W. Basketball

While other students were resting at home anxiously awaiting their final grades to be posted, or rejoicing another semester of college completed, the Mercer women’s basketball team was not resting on their laurels as they had many important games to prepare for and play. Playing eight games while everyone else was away was a difficult task to overcome. Although crowds would be small, and it would be tough for the team to be away from family for most of the holidays, they knew they had a job to do and knew that this is what they signed up for.
First up for the Lady Bears was the Troy State University Trojans. In a highly contested match that ventured into overtime, the Lady bears came out on top, victorious in a well-deserved 69-59 win. In this game, the name on everyone’s lips was Briana Williams! The sophomore sensation finished with a team-leading 27 points and an impressive seven rebounds. Also coming up big in the victory were Alicia Williams and Ry’van Buchanan who finished the game with 13 and 10 points respectively. Junior Sharmesia Smith came just short of a double-double effort with 10 rebounds and nine points.
Next up for Mercer was an away match-up with a competitive UNC Asheville opponent. The game ended with the victor prevailing by only a one-point margin. Unfortunately for the away team, this margin was not on their side. The Lady Bears ended up losing 76-75. Both Briana Williams and Alicia Williams had stellar performances for their team combining for 44 points between the two. Briana Williams led the team with 23 points, followed by teammate Alicia Williams’ astounding 21 points. Sharmesia Smith was able to pull down nine rebounds in the losing effort. Coach Susie Gardner weighed in on the match. “The game shouldn’t have come to a last second play,” Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. “We were up early but after we got down, we fought back.  This was another learning experience. We continue to learn the hard way,” she added.
Coach Gardner’s squad hit the court twice more before the big conference stretch started, losing to both Winthrop and a highly touted Notre Dame squad 88-74 and 128-42 respectively. The team looked to take their current losing streak and turn it into fuel for the fire as they headed towards their most important stretch of the season, conference play.
The first pair of games for Gardner and the Lady Bears was against Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson at home. Unfortunately, the Lady Bears dropped both contests losing to Florida Gulf Coast 98-50 and Stetson by a close margin of 89-84.
In their final two matches before the break for the holidays was over as students ventured back to Mercer’s campus for the second semester, Coach Gardner looked to lead her team to victory. Unfortunately, the Lady Bears dropped the two contests, losing to ETSU 72-46 and USC Upstate 77-56.
With conference tournament dreams on the line, Coach Gardner looks to fine tune some of the problem areas and make a run late for the season for a chance for our Lady Bears to hoist the trophy high over their heads.
Coming out of a tough stretch of winter break games, the Lady Bears fell to 3-14. After winning the overtime game against Troy, Gardner’s squad dropped seven in-a-row.

Women’s basketball falls to Auburn on historic homecoming night

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Published Nov 16, in Sports

The Mercer women’s basketball team played in front of a nearly packed house, but they were unable to overcome the strong Auburn Tigers. The Bears were outrebounded almost two to one, and these second chance points were a major reason the Bears could not pull off the upset. This was the highest attended women’s basketball game in University Center history, with 2,728 people in attendance. That was almost double the previous record, set in January 2011 against North Florida. However, the energy of the large crowd was not enough to sustain the Bears.
Mercer did not score for the first four minutes of the game, the Tigers led by as many as 20 points before going into halftime up by 17. An opening 12-0 run crushed Mercer’s chances of upsetting this Southeastern Conference foe. While last year Mercer was able to put points on the board early, none of the Bears could break through the stifling defense for a while. Precious Bridges finally got through for the Bears’ first six points.
The Bears were unable to close the gap to 14 points, but the second half would prove to be even less successful for the Bears. Immediately following this closing of the gap, Auburn’s Tyrese Tanner, who scored a game-high 14 points, had six transition points as part of an eight-point swing that put the game out of reach. Tanner added three assists and two steals. Two other Auburn players finished in double figures: Hasina Muhammad with 12 and Blanche Alverson with 12 off the bench. Alverson had a double-double with 10 rebounds as well, the first of her career. Morgan Jennings performed well with six rebounds, eight assists and six points.
As for Mercer players who performed well, none were in double digits for scoring. Briana Williams and Alicia Williams each had nine points. Sharnea Boykin added two rebounds, four assists and four steals. Sharmesia Smith had six rebounds. Nine bears had at least 10 minutes on the court, and seven of them had 18 or more.
Mercer shot just 27.3 percent from the field, less than half of Auburn’s 55.4 percent. The Bears were also just 56.2 percent from the charity stripe as opposed to Auburn being 62.5 percent. The Bears cannot continue to give up easy points if they want to challenge for the Atlantic Sun title this year.
“[It took] a really good effort tonight to come into Mercer, to a packed house on their homecoming and get the win,” said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner, when speaking to the Auburn Bears’ athletics website. Meanwhile, Mercer coach Susie Gardner was very upset about her team’s second half performance: “We came out of the locker room flat. We need to work on this.”
This was the fourth straight time the Mercer Bears have lost their season opener. However, this was the 33rd straight victory for Auburn to start a season. Auburn was recently picked to finish ninth in the Southeastern Conference.
When looking at positives from the Mercer side, Coach Gardner said. “The one positive we could take from this game was the 2,728 people in the stands. It was definitely the most exciting game I’ve been a part of here at Mercer.”

Mercer Madness recap

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Published Oct 30, in Campus, News

As the crowds gathered into the Intramural Courts around 10 p.m. on an October Saturday night, the air filled with the excitement of Mercer Basketball.

One of the most popular student events each academic year, Mercer Madness, was held on Saturday night, Oct. 22, from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. in the University Center Intramural Courts. This annual event serves as the official kick-off for the men’s and women’s basketball seasons. The celebration always includes an array of exciting events. This year, unlike the past couple of years, featured a more engaging and party-like atmosphere. One significant difference was the draw of the intramural dodgeball tournament as well as jousting and basketball inflatables commonly featured at other popular events throughout the year. In addition, there was free food, giveaways, music, and a three-point competition between two players from each of the men’s and women’s teams as well as a random boy and girl from the student body.

The event was an overall success. The Pep Band and Cheerleaders ushered in the new basketball season with loud and spirited cheers which were quickly followed by the men’s and women’s basketball teams introducing themselves and inviting the student body to come out, have fun, and cheer on the teams as they begin their exciting season. Come out to support the Bears in the first games of the season; a double header on Thursday, Nov. 4 starting off with the women’s game at 5 p.m., and the men’s game immediately following at 7:30 p.m.

A-Sun coverage: Lipscomb defeats Lady Bucs

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Published Mar 2, in Sports, W. Basketball

At the half, Lipscomb lead 35 to 33 off of scrappy and aggressivedefense.

The Lady Bisons set the tempo for most of the half. ETSU wouldn’t go away, and the number one overall seed in the women’s bracket led 41 to 40 before a three from the Bisons had ETSU forced
to play some tough defense to keep a major upset from happening.

With fifteen minutes left to play, Lipscomb stuck in it and refused to give up, with the lead going back and forth.

The Bisons’ traveling fans were loud and continued to spur the team on to major success, despite ETSU living off of bad shots and turnovers.

With nine minutes gone, the Buccaneers were controlling the boards as well, and they took a 53-46 lead. This spurred their traveling pep band to begin to drown out everyone, as the 12-3 run put the Lady Bucs in charge.

The major problem developing was ETSU’s propensity to foul, as they neared the double bonus. Lipscomb began to miss free throws late though, along with a slew of turnovers.

Despite the slowly growing lead for the Lady Bucs (eight points with eight minutes left), they were not able to effectively close the door. This was aggravated by a full court press from the Lady Bisons. A layup from Hannah Phillips kept them in it, but ETSU’s up tempo defense was too much, and the Lady Bucs led by eleven points with 3:52 left, at which point they put Lipscomb into the double bonus.

With 90 seconds left, Lipscomb pulled within seven.

However, behind Gwen Robinson’s career high 24 points and Lipscomb’s poor defense, ETSU led by five with a minute left. A flurry of threes from Lipscomb made it interesting late, led by Hannah Phillips.

But the No. 1 ETSU Lady Bucs won 83-75 to advance to the next round. This was their eleventh straight victory against the Lady Bisons. Tara Davis added 23 points and four assists. Lipscomb’s ten three point field goals was their sixth game like that this year, led by Jenna Bartsokas with eighteen points and five 3′s. ETSU will play the winner of North Florida and Jacksonville.

Women’s basketball snaps losing streak

Tough season continues as rebuilding under Gardner continues

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Published Feb 23, in Sports

 

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Ariel Barnes looks for a shot against a pesky FGCU defense in a recent home game.

After a long, hard-fought road, the Mercer Bears’ women’s basketball team recorded their first home victory on the season. The win over Kennesaw State in overtime was tough and will help the Bears as they transition into the offseason although Mercer has dropped their last four, making them 2-25 overall, 2-16 in Atlantic Sun play, as of Feb. 21. 

 Mercer 82, KSU 76, OT

The overtime thriller was thanks in part to a Mercer collapse in the second half. They led by seventeen at the break, but the Owls were not to be left behind, as Kennesaw State rallied back. The Bears outscored the Owls 13-7 in the extra five minutes, ensuring that Susie Gardner would see a home victory in her first season. Sharmesia Smith had a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. The Bears shot over fifty percent from the field in the first half. Briana Williams scored 23 to lead the Bears.

 FGCU 76, Mercer 45.

Mercer was unable to follow their first victory in 2011 with an upset of the top team in the Atlantic Sun. The 31-point loss was mostly due to an eleven point deficit at halftime, and FGCU just applying the pressure in the second half, outscoring the Bears 40-20 in the closing period. FGCU’s Sarah Hansen and Kelsey Jacobson combined for 39 points, including a key 13 point run in the second half. Briana Williams had twelve points on the night for Mercer. The Bears did outrebound the Eagles 31-29, but they turned the ball over 23 times.

 Stetson 71, Mercer 62.

The comeback fell nine points short on Feb. 14, as the Bears dropped their second game at home since knocking off Kennesaw State. Stetson led by 16 at the half. Briana Williams had an unbelievable game, scoring 31 points, but it would not be echoed by the rest of the squad. She had twelve points in the late run that almost change the result. Mercer got as close as two points back, but Stetson finally put the game away with a little under three minutes to play. 

UNF 70, Mercer 49.

Going on the road, Mercer was unable to hang with North Florida, getting completely outplayed by the Ospreys. Briana Williams continued her amazing play, scoring 25 points, including 21 in the first half. Nevertheless, the rest of Mercer’s squad was not able to hang with her, or the Ospreys. After being tied at 28 going into the intermission, Mercer was outscored 42-21 by a truly superior squad. The Ospreys outrebounded Mercer 50-33, and turned the ball over eight less times. UNF’s Larkira Jones had 18 points and 16 boards for a double-double.

 Jacksonville 64, Mercer 61.

In their final road game of the season, Mercer lost by three to the Dolphins of Jacksonville. Considering how top heavy the Atlantic Sun conference has been this season, Mercer was finally mathematically eliminated from the postseason tournament that will be held in Macon. Mercer’s bench outscored the bench of Jacksonville 27-16, with Ariel Barnes scoring 13 and Amber Chatmon scoring eight. Mercer led by seven at the break, but they could not sustain the momentum. The young team has a lot to look forward to for next season, as Brittnee Hazel had 17 points and Sharmesia Smith added 11 boards. They would get as close as one with seven seconds left, but it would not be a storybook ending in Jacksonville.

The Bears finish the season with games against Belmont and Lipscomb at home on Feb. 24 and 26.

Women’s basketball losing streak reaches 16

Williams stars for Bears in losing efforts

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Published Feb 9, in Sports

Briana Williams has been a bright spot for Mercer this season, scoring more than 30 points three times in 2010-11.

After what was the toughest home weekend for the Mercer women’s basketball team yet, the Bears went on the road and fell to 1-21 overall, 1-12 in the conference. Following the heartbreakers against North Florida and Jacksonville, the Bears had to travel to Kennesaw State, USC-Upstate and East Tennessee State before heading back home to play Campbell. Having to play three of the toughest four teams in the conference in the midst of one of the worst losing streaks in school history was not how Mercer saw themselves entering the home stretch of the season.

Kennesaw State 79, Mercer 56

In-state rival Kennesaw State welcomed Mercer on Jan. 26. Mercer trailed by twelve at the half, and never recovered from Kennesaw’s Ashley Holliday’s nine straight points in the middle of the first half. The Owls turned a close five-point game into a 30-15 lead with 5:11 to play in the opening half. Despite a late run from the Bears, Kennesaw ended the first half on a 6-0 run. The closest that Mercer ever got from there was seven, but a 15-0 run from the Owls finished Mercer.  There were a few good signs from Mercer. They outrebounded KSU 46-41. Alex Phillips added a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. The dynamic freshman duo of Briana Williams and Brittnee Hazel combined for 33 points, but it would not stop the home team from their third straight win.

USC-Upstate 74, Mercer 63

Three Bears were in double figures, but a weak second half left Mercer the losers on Jan. 29. A 30-26 halftime advantage was undone by shoddy rebounding, despite freshman Rebecca Clanton’s career-high 12 points, freshman Sharnea Boykin’s career-high 11 assists and Williams and Hazel combining for thirty points. Mercer led by one as late as the thirteen-minute mark of the second half, but successive runs by the Spartans were too much. Tee’Ara Copney and Chelsea McMillan scored 35 of the 74. Also, Mercer was dominated at the boards, only getting 32 rebounds to USC-Upstate’s 55.

East Tennessee State 100, Mercer 62

Mercer allowed a hundred for the second time this season, and it again resulted in a blowout loss. The Lady Bucs were too much to handle, despite Hazel scoring 16 points. It was ETSU’s fifth straight win. Alex Phillips and Sharmesia Smith each added 10 points to the box score for Mercer. Despite a better second half performance compared to recent games, Mercer was completely manhandled by a superior team in the first half, trailing by 25 at the break (52-27). ETSU converted 40 of their 70 attempts from the field for the game and they outrebounded the Bears 41-25.

Campbell 77, Mercer 64

Despite an astounding performance from Briana Williams, Mercer’s return home was just another loss. Williams scored 17 in the final eleven minutes of the game, but it would not be enough in her third 30-point game this season. Mercer trailed in each half and would as close as seven late in the closing half, but it would be futile. Campbell’s streaky shooters simply outperformed Mercer starting five. Sharmesia Smith would add 11 rebounds for the Bears in the losing effort.

The Mercer Bears hope to turn their season around against in-state rival Kennesaw State in the University Center on Thursday, Feb. 10, Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, Feb. 12, and finish the homestand against Stetson on Monday, Feb. 14.