Mercer overcoming disappointment, set for trip to Alabama

For the second straight year, the Mercer women are having to deal with the disappointment of just missing out on an NCAA Tournament berth.

So far, junior Kahlia Lawrence likes what she has seen from her team.

Lawrence and the Bears return to action after losing to Chattanooga in the Southern Conference Tournament championship game for the second straight year when they travel to Alabama at 8 p.m. on Thursday for the first round of the WNIT.

“I’m actually really proud of my team, the way we’re bouncing back,” said Lawrence, who was the Southern Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season. “We came back after a little break after the tournament and were really focused and ready to get back to playing and getting ready for our next opponent, who we just found out was Alabama. And I’m really proud of the way they’ve shown resilience. We’re upset, obviously, about it, but we were able to get back focused.”

The Bears’ trip to the WNIT is their second straight and the program’s third overall. Mercer (25-6) lost 73-56 at Georgia Tech in the first round last year. Thursday’s winner will face the winner of Little Rock-Southern Miss in the second round.

Mercer is 1-2 all time against Alabama. The Crimson Tide won the first two meetings — 91-69 in 1993 and 101-46 in 1994 — but the Bears won 46-39 in 2014 at Alabama.

“It’s been for me, because I am a little emotional, a little emotional roller coaster because we took some time off because it was spring break, and I really, really started focusing on this program and what we’ve done well, what we need to improve,” Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. “And then I got caught up in practice and with our players that weekend, and that was great therapy, and then they had Selection Sunday and Selection Monday. I’m sitting there watching all the teams excited and jumping with their fans, and I kind of got down a little bit again.

“But I have to focus, as the leader of this program, focus on the here and now and not the ‘What ifs?’ And right now we play Alabama on Thursday night.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Mercer overcoming disappointment, set for trip to Alabama."