Greensboro, N.C.- The women's basketball team (8-21, 0-14) is set to take on Southern Conference Regular season Co-Champion and No.1 seed Mercer (22-7, 12-2 SoCon) in the first round of the SoCon Tournament presented by General Shale Thursday, March 3, in Asheville, N.C. Tip-off is slated for 11:30 a.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center.
It will be the 34th SoCon Tournament game for the Spartans since their first appearance in 1998. Since then, UNCG has compiled an 18-15 overall in the tournament making six championship games ('98, '00, '01', '02, & '06) winning the Championship in 1998, its first season in the league.
UNCG will face Mercer who posted a 22-7 overall regular season record and shared the SoCon Regular Season title with three-time defending tournament champion Chattanoonga with a 12-2 league slate. Mercer joined the SoCon last season and leads the Spartans 4-0 in the all-time series.
This season, the Bears swept the regular season series but it was no easy road. Mercer barely escaped UNCG in the first meeting, January 7. The Bears forced overtime in the final minute of the game and went on to win 86-78. In the second meeting, UNCG fell behind early and Mercer held on for a 81-47 win in Macon, Ga.
The Spartans are led by all-time leading scorer Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) who is averaging 22.3 points per game this season a league best which also ranks 10th in the nation. She was recently named All-Southern Conference First Team in both the Coaches and Media selections. India Timpton (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) and Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spalding) are tied for the team lead in rebounds per game, both averaging 7.1
Against Mercer this season, Mason is averaging 21.0 points per game and is shooting 25 percent from the field. Most of her points against the Bears, 45 percent, have been from the free throw line where she has made 19-of-22 attempts.
Mercer head coach Susie Gardner was named the SoCon Coach of the Year this week while Sophomore Kahlia Lawrence earned Player of the Year accolades. The Bears had three freshman named to the All-Freshman team with Linnea Rosendal earning the top honors as Freshman of the Year.
Lawrence is averaging 18.5 points per game this season in roughly 32 minutes per game. Sydni Means leads the league in assists per game (5.7) and is ranked 23rd nationally. She ranks top-10 in assists-turnover ratio (2.78) and has helped her team to rank 28th overall in that same category.
UNCG is 6-3 all-time in the first round of the SoCon Tournament. Under the leadership of head coach Wendy Palmer UNCG is 1-3 since her first year at the helm in 2012.
The Spartans last SoCon tournament win was in 2013 when No. 10-seed UNCG upset No. 7 Furman, 73-68. In that game, then-freshman Mason scored 15 points in the game.
Fans can follow along with live stats at UNCGSpartans.com.
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