Troy Travels to Mercer for WBI First Round

MACON, Georgia – The Troy women's basketball team will make the second postseason appearance in program history on Thursday when it travels to take on Mercer in the first round of Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI). Tip off between Troy, the East Region's No. 5 seed, and Mercer, the No. 4 seed, is set for 6 p.m. CT at Hawkins Arena.

The game will be televised on ESPN3. Live audio and live stats will be available through TroyTrojans.com and can be accessed through the women's basketball schedule page. Fans in Troy can also hear the game on WTBF 94.7 FM. To follow the action on Twitter, follow @TroyWomensBBall.

The winner of Thursday's game will next take on the winner of No. 1 Northern Kentucky and No. 8 Marshall. If Troy moves on to face Northern Kentucky, the Trojans will travel to Highland Heights, Ky. However, if Marshall wins, Troy will host the Thundering Herd on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Trojan Arena.

Troy (20-10) last played in the postseason in the 1997 NCAA Tournament were it fell to Virginia in the first round. The Trojans have won 20 games for just the fourth time in the program's 40-year history and the first time since the 1996-97 team won a program record 23 games.

The Trojans finished the regular season with eight consecutive wins, but lost to UL Lafayette in the Sun Belt quarterfinals, 66-52. The 52 points were the fewest scored by the Trojans this season as they shot just 31 percent in the second half after trailing by three points at halftime.

Despite the season low, Troy is still averaging a Sun Belt best 77.3 points per game, which ranks 13^th in the NCAA. Troy also leads the league in assists (14.3 apg), rebounds (42.8 rpg) and offensive rebounds (17.2/g, ninth in NCAA).

Troy is led by two first team All-Sun Belt selections in senior Ronita Garrett and junior Ashley Beverly-Kelley. They are Troy's first pair of first team all-conference selections since 2002-03 when Troy was a member of the Atlantic Sun.

Garrett has posted 21 double-doubles this season, six more than any other Sun Belt player and the eighth most in the NCAA. She ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in scoring (15.6 ppg) and first in rebounding (11.2 rpg).

Beverly-Kelley enters as the Trojans' leading scorer, ranking second in the Sun Belt in overall scoring (17.7 ppg) and first in scoring in league games (19.8 ppg). A Mid-Major All-American, she has scored 20-plus in eight of her last 12 games.

Troy, despite being the No. 5 seed in East Region of the WBI, has the second best RPI (113) in the entire 16-team field. The Trojans, at 8-2, also have the best record in the last 10 games in the field and their win over RPI No. 29 UALR is best of any team in the field.

Mercer (18-14) is playing in the WBI for the second time in the last three seasons. The Bears went 9-5 in their first season in the Southern Conference, finishing third in the league's regular season standings. The Bears beat Wofford in the SoCon Tournament quarterfinals before falling to East Tennessee State in the semifinals.

The Bears have an interesting makeup as their 12-women roster consists of four seniors and eight freshmen. Mercer is led by SoCon Player of the Year Precious Bridges. The 5-foot-6 senior guard averages 19.9 points per game and 3.8 assists per game, ranking first and third in the SoCon.

Mercer also features the SoCon Freshman of the Year in Kahlia Lawrence who averages 13.4 points per game. Senior Teanna Robinson at 6-foot-5 averages 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

The Bears average 66.5 points per game while holding opponents to 63.6 per game. Mercer ranks third in the NCAA, averaging just 10.8 turnovers per game.

Troy is 10-14 all-time against Mercer, with the majority of those meetings coming between 1997 and 2005 when both were Atlantic Sun members. Troy is 2-10 all-time in Macon having last won on the road against Mercer in 2000-01.

The teams have met in each of the last three seasons, including the last two with Chanda Rigby at the helm of Troy. Both of the meetings under Rigby have been high scoring with Mercer winning 96-90 at Trojan Arena in 2012-13 and 86-81 at Hawkins Arena in 2013-14.

For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat by searching for Troy Athletics.

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Beverly Kelley

Ronita Garrett