Mercer women put on the pressure in impressive first win in SoCon tournament

The Mercer Bears women’s basketball team is advancing to the second round of the SoCon tournament after knocking off Western Carolina 55-32.

The team got off to a sluggish start offensively but held a big lead heading into the half behind a stellar defensive performance. Bears Head Coach Susie Gardner said that holding them to just 10 points in the first half really set the tone for the game.

“When you play a team three times it gets a little trickier for us to score as well,” she said “We knew that we can always bring the intangibles of playing hard defense.”

Senior forward Amanda Thompson was a key part of that defensive effort. She hauled in 17 total rebounds and chipped in eight points.

“You know I had 14 defensive rebounds but those are really team rebounds that comes from everybody on the floor boxing out,” Thompson said. “So I think that is just a testament to the team and how much of a better job we did boxing out in general which is really good. It was nice to see.”

Gardner said that senior guard KeKe Calloway also helped wreak havoc defensively while also pacing the offense with a game high 18 points and shooting 50 percent from the floor.

“I thought it started with KeKe guarding the point guard,” Gardner said. “We knew it was going to be a lot of one-on-one play, that is what they do. We did a good job with that as well.”

Calloway forced three steals and threw the Catamounts off their game with her swarming defense. She said her goal coming into the game was to get her team going by attacking on both ends of the court.

“I know that I have the ability to get up and pressure the offensive team. I know they are not expecting it,” Calloway said. “I just try to do that and get my team going. Because if I get up and pressure then every one else will follow suit and our defense will be great.”

At the other end of the court, Calloway put on a big time performance as she drilled three key 3-pointers that got the offense going early on. She has a tendency to put together big time performances in the SoCon tournament.

Last year she was named to the 2018 all-SoCon tournament first team. In fact, she opened the tournament last year against Western Carolina with a similar performance, 18 points and three 3- pointers

“It is tournament time so you really want to be playing your best basketball,” she said. “We just have to win and do whatever it takes to win.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2019 at 2:43 PM.