Section 7 - Mercer University

CHAMPIONSHIP TRADITION2005-06 MERCERMERCER WOMEN’S BASKETBALLMercer women's basketballbegan play in 1970 and it didn’ttake long for this program to besuccessful. In just its second yearof existence, the Bears finishedwith a 21-1 record in 1971-72, butsince they were not a member of aconference, there was no championshipto be had.The Bears went on a run of sixstraightwinning seasons under theirfirst head coach Peggy Collins, whois Mercer's all-time winningest coachwith 133 wins and has an .801 winningpercentage. After a one seasonstumble in 1977-78 under new coach Jane Fontaine,but the Bears rebounded quickly winning 51 games inthe next two seasons under Fontaine.In 1978-79, under the direction of Fontaine, theBears won their first title as a program, taking homethe GAIAW State Championship. That team was ledby one of the legends of Mercer women's basketball,Vivian Humphrey. Humphrey is the second leadingscorer in Mercer history,and is one ofthree members of theexclusive 2,000-pointclub. CharlotteNicholson was finishingup her brilliantcareer with 1,256points, 11th currentlyin the Mercer recordbooks. KathySingletary, eighth onMercer's all time scoringlist, was in her firstyear with the Bears.Mercer went 22-10 that season, notching victoriesover Georgia, Georgia Southern, Florida State,Florida, Ole Miss, and Auburn. The Bears defeatedValdosta State for the GAIWA state title, but would loseto them in the third round of the Region III Tournament.The Bears kept right on rolling in 1979-80,improving to a single-season school record 29 winsto only six losses. Humphrey returned to lead theBears along with Singleton. That season saw theemergence of another future legend of Mercer,Emma Mumphrey. Mumphrey would finish hercareer with 2,098 points, which places her third alltime behind Humphrey and Andrea Congreaves.This Mercer team came out of the bocks on fire,1980 GAIAW Championsripping off seven wins in a row over teams likeFlorida, Troy State and Southern Mississippi. TheBears had a one game stumble at MississippiCollege, then three more wins over Auburn, Stetson,and Pittsburgh.The Bears suffered back to back losses onlyonce the entire season, against Clemson and OleMiss. They then went on a tear to end the seasonand went into the GAIAW State Tournament havingwon 12 in a row, the third longest win streak in theprograms history. Their tournament run consisted ofwins over Valdosta State and Georgia Southern towin the GAIAW State Title, before moving on to theRegion III tournament in Cleveland, Miss. Mercerswept through the Region III tournament with winsover South Alabama, Florida State, and GeorgiaSouthern. This put the Bears at home hosting Texasin the AIAW National Tournament, after a tight game,the Longhorns prevailed81-80 endingMercer's season, butthe success of the1979-1980 season stillremains.Mercer wentthrough some rebuildingafter that magicalseason, but the successreturned to PorterGym for the 1984-85season. The Bearswere led by the seniorleadership of AnitaMeadows. She finishedher career with atotal of 1,088 points, which is 15th all time for theBears. Throw on top of that the strong play of fresh-72ENTHUSIASM, , EMOTIONEMOTION, , EFFORTEFFORT