Mercer nearly pulls off historic women's NCAA Tournament win, but Iowa holds on - barely (4:15 p.m. Saturday update w/Mercer postgame)
Mercer’s shooting kept digging an early hole, but Iowa turnovers kept the Bears from falling in.
The Bears finally started hitting shots while the Hawkeyes still turned the ball over, and, improbably after being outshot by 22 percentage points in the first half, took the lead on the final shot of the third quarter.
But the cold hand returned at the worst time, and Mercer managed only two points in the final 4:19 and fell 66-61 to Iowa in the first round Friday of the NCAA women’s tournament in Iowa City, Iowa.
The homestanding Hawkeyes were extraordinarily fortunate in avoiding an historic loss overall, moreso on their home court, where they were undefeated this season, epitomizing the survive-and-advance of March.
No 2 seed had beaten a 15 seed in women’s NCAA history.
“We played someone much more difficult that a 15-seed,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We personally liked our seed. We didn't love our opponent. We loved our 2-seed, but I think we played against somebody that was much more difficult than a 15-seed. I think everybody can recognize that and understand that.”
Shannon Titus put up a 17-footer as the third-quarter clock ran down, and the ball hit the back of the rim, went straight up and straight down for a bucket at a 51-50 lead for Mercer.
The Bears (25-8) led by four on KeKe Calloway’s 3 with 6:58 left in the game, and another Calloway bomb put the Bears up 59-57 with 4:19 to go.
Iowa tied it less than 30 seconds later, and the Bears went cold, missing their five of their final six shots and allowing opportunities to slip away.
Iowa took a 60-59 lead with 3:25 left on one of two at the line from Makenzie Meyer.
The door remained open from then on, the Hawkeyes following with an offensive foul, made layup, miss, miss, offensive rebound and two missed free throws. It was a 64-61 game from 1:49-:11.
After Calloway scored to pull within 62-61 at 2:03, Mercer missed three shots. Iowa got possession on a tie ball, then a loose ball after a miss went off Mercer, and the Bears had two makeable shots sit on the rim and fall out, one by Rachel Self and one by Calloway.
“Yeah, I thought it was in,” Calloway said. “t came out. I felt like it was a good slot and it had a chance.”
The final 3:25, Iowa couldn’t pull away and Mercer couldn’t pull ahead, and both had the chances.
Finally, after two Kathleen Doyle free throws with 11 seconds left, the Hawkeyes had what qualified as control.
Iowa had three more possessions than Mercer, and needed every one.
Calloway finished with 21 points on 8-of-26 shooting, plus four rebounds, five assists, and only two turnovers in 39 minutes. Amanda Thompson had 18 points and seven rebounds plus six steals in 39 minutes.
But the rest of the Bears struggled, Titus fouling out with eight points in 20 minutes and Selph getting only two second-half points.
National player of the year candidate Megan Gustafson was big, as expected, with 30 points on 14-of-16 shooting and 16 rebounds.
“It feels good to get this win, no matter how ugly it was,” she said.
Hannah Stewart added 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Meyer 16 points, going 5 for 7 on 3s.
“Mercer was really digging in on the drive,” Meyer said. “It opened up a lot of 3 opportunities for us, and luckily I was able to knock em down today.”
It was the final game for seniors Calloway, Thompson, Selph, Linnea Rosendal, and Ally Welch. All returning players are sophomores and freshmen.
Mercer couldn’t hit good looks – the shooting percentage had very little to do with Iowa’s defense – early yet was within 16-12 after a quarter. The Bears fell 11 points behind, but kept plugging and disrupting the Hawkeyes’ offense, but Iowa got a buzzer-beating 3 for a 35-27 halftime lead.
“We got off to a shaky start,” Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. “We were missing a lot of shots that we normally don't miss.”
Mercer was hitting 34.2 percent to 55.6 percent for Iowa, which had 13 more rebounds and 12 more turnovers. And Iowa had an assist on every made basket.
The game stayed close, despite Mercer’s shooting and Iowa’s turnovers the rest of the way.
“Get tips. Get turnovers,” Thompson said. “We wanted to keep the ball out of (Gustafson’s) hands, so we were going to pressure the ball and that's what we did. We focused on taking care of the ball.”
Mercer defended Iowa hard.
“They were just really aggressive defensively,” Meyer said. “They had a long team and they had a couple really long guards and they were doing a good job of keeping their hands up and they knew our game plan was to get it inside. They did a good job tipping passes and we probably could have done a better job using ball fakes.
And the Bears were so close in a very odd game in which they probably should have won or should have lost by 20. The stats were astoundingly abnormal (see chart).
Iowa won despite no bench points, four more turnovers than assists, and giving up 17 steals.
Mercer lost despite a huge assist-to-turnover ratio advantage, 16 more points off turnovers, and making the same number of shots (but needing 29 more attempts).
Things could have gone the other way despite serious contrasts up and down the stat sheet, including only nine free-throw attempts in the game, none from Mercer.
A large crowd provided a more-than-expected needed boost for Iowa.
“It was a great basketball environment,” Gardner said. “I felt like their fans really pulled them through when they needed to be pulled through and our guys kept bouncing back and we had opportunities. We never went away.”
“We played someone much more difficult that a 15-seed,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We personally liked our seed. We didn't love our opponent. We loved our 2-seed, but I think we played against somebody that was much more difficult than a 15-seed. I think everybody can recognize that and understand that.”
Shannon Titus put up a 17-footer as the third-quarter clock ran down, and the ball hit the back of the rim, went straight up and straight down for a bucket at a 51-50 lead for Mercer.
The Bears (25-8) led by four on KeKe Calloway’s 3 with 6:58 left in the game, and another Calloway bomb put the Bears up 59-57 with 4:19 to go.
Iowa tied it less than 30 seconds later, and the Bears went cold, missing their five of their final six shots and allowing opportunities to slip away.
Iowa took a 60-59 lead with 3:25 left on one of two at the line from Makenzie Meyer.
The door remained open from then on, the Hawkeyes following with an offensive foul, made layup, miss, miss, offensive rebound and two missed free throws. It was a 64-61 game from 1:49-:11.
After Calloway scored to pull within 62-61 at 2:03, Mercer missed three shots. Iowa got possession on a tie ball, then a loose ball after a miss went off Mercer, and the Bears had two makeable shots sit on the rim and fall out, one by Rachel Self and one by Calloway.
The final 3:25, Iowa couldn’t pull away and Mercer couldn’t pull ahead, and both had the chances.
Finally, after two Kathleen Doyle free throws with 11 seconds left, the Hawkeyes had what qualified as control.
Iowa had three more possessions than Mercer, and needed every one.
Calloway finished with 21 points on 8-of-26 shooting, plus four rebounds, five assists, and only two turnovers in 39 minutes. Amanda Thompson had 18 points and seven rebounds plus six steals in 39 minutes.
But the rest of the Bears struggled, Titus fouling out with eight points in 20 minutes and Selph getting only two second-half points.
National player of the year candidate Megan Gustafson was big, as expected, with 30 points on 14-of-16 shooting and 16 rebounds.
“It feels good to get this win, no matter how ugly it was,” she said.
Hannah Stewart added 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Meyer 16 points, going 5 for 7 on 3s.
“Mercer was really digging in on the drive,” Meyer said. “It opened up a lot of 3 opportunities for us, and luckily I was able to knock em down today.”
It was the final game for seniors Calloway, Thompson, Selph, Linnea Rosendal, and Ally Welch. All returning players are sophomores and freshmen.
Mercer couldn’t hit good looks – the shooting percentage had very little to do with Iowa’s defense – early yet was within 16-12 after a quarter. The Bears fell 11 points behind, but kept plugging and disrupting the Hawkeyes’ offense, but Iowa got a buzzer-beating 3 for a 35-27 halftime lead.
Mercer was hitting 34.2 percent to 55.6 percent for Iowa, which had 13 more rebounds and 12 more turnovers. And Iowa had an assist on every made basket.
The game stayed close, despite Mercer’s shooting and Iowa’s turnovers the rest of the way.
They were just really aggressive defensively,” Meyer said. “They had a long team and they had a couple really long guards and they were doing a good job of keeping their hands up and they knew our game plan was to get it inside. They did a good job tipping passes and we probably could have done a better job using ball fakes.
And the Bears were so close in a very odd game in which they probably should have won or should have lost by 20. The stats were astoundingly abnormal (see chart).
Iowa won despite no bench points, four more turnovers than assists, and giving up 17 steals.
Mercer lost despite a huge assist-to-turnover ratio advantage, 16 more points off turnovers, and making the same number of shots (but needing 29 more attempts).
Things could have gone the other way despite serious contrasts up and down the stat sheet, including only nine free-throw attempts in the game, none from Mercer.