Mercer women’s basketball tabbed as 16 seed in NCAA tournament. Who will they face?
The Mercer women’s basketball team is back in the NCAA tournament and will take on South Carolina in the first round on Sunday.
The Bears punched their third ticket to the NCAA tournament in the last four years. Mercer’s run is the best in the school’s history, which had never made the tournament until four years ago when head coach Susie Gardner led them against her alma mater, Georgia.
In the previous two appearances in the tournament, the Bears pushed their first round opponents but came up just short in the bid for the upset. Against No. 4 Georgia in 2018, Mercer lost 68-63. In 2019, Mercer lost to No. 2 Iowa 66-61 in the first round.
“We are a very confident program. We have to rely on the selection committee to respect our program,” Gardner said. “We are at the mercy of the selection committee. Once we get our opponent then we dive in head first and prepare like we always do.”
In addition to playing against a number one seed, the Bears will be faced with the task of dealing with some of the new changes to the tournament due to COVID-19. The games will all take place in a bubble in San Antonio. Gardner said that there are a lot of differences between this tournament appearance and the two previous runs.
The Bears came into this year off of a single-digit win season for the first time since 2011. They responded by winning 19 games and taking home the Southern Conference title. Dealing with COVID-19 which provided its own set of challenges for schools.
“We were able to right the ship and get back. This year has been really fulfilling,” Gardner said. “I really enjoy this team. We have been in a bubble and spent a whole lot of time together. I am really happy for this team. We had to really make some changes from last year but also survive the COVID challenges.”
Mercer will be led by a group of four players scoring over 10 points per game and the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, Shannon Titus, the only member of the team who started during the last NCAA tournament game for the Bears.
One of the key pieces for the Bears this year has been Georgia State graduate transfer Jada Lewis. When she chose to come to Mercer, Lewis said that this run is exactly what she expected and is ready to compete in the NCAA tournament.
“No individual award amounts to a championship. That was the only thing on my mind when I got here was help lead these girls to a title,” Lewis said. “I really just came here to help.”
Next up for the Bears is the showdown with No. 1 seed South Carolina. The hero of the SoCon tournament was junior guard Amoria Neal-Tysor who scored over 25 points in each of the first two rounds. She is the leading scorer on the team with 17 points per game. Neal-Tysor said she is ready to get the chance to compete in the NCAA tournament.
“We have worked really hard to get to this moment right here with COVID going on and not being in our weight room at one point and putting in the extra work in the hot sun on the football field,” Neal-Tysor said. “Everything led up to this moment right.We are going to go up there and try to handle our business.”