Kendrick alum Kahlia Lawrence prepares to make history yet again for Mercer

Columbus native Kahlia Lawrence prepares to make history yet again for Mercer Mercer senior guard Kahlia Lawrence knew what was coming Monday, but it didn’t make the moment any less special.

The Bears basketball team gathered together to watch the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket reveal. Mercer had clinched its first ever trip to the premier postseason tournament March 4, when Lawrence’s game-high 29 points helped the Bears capture the Southern Conference tournament title.

Still, when the Mercer name popped up on the screen – chosen as a No. 13 seed matched up against No. 4 Georgia – the gravity of the moment struck Lawrence.

“I was really overwhelmed with all types of emotions – anxiety, excitement – at one time,” Lawrence said. “I think that’s when I really realized that I was going to be a part of the NCAA Tournament, something kids wish for every day. It’s actually quite incredible.”

Lawrence’s time at Mercer has basically required a brand-new record book for Bears basketball. Lawrence has left countless opponents aching for an answer to the Columbus native ever since she first started as a freshman. That was again the case this season, as she led the team in scoring and earned her third SoCon Player of the Year award as the Bears went 30-2 and won 27 straight.

Now on the cusp of her first trip to the NCAA Tournament, Lawrence is also nearing the final send-off in her college career. With the final chapter uncertain, the lead-up to the First Round game offers a chance to look at Lawrence and the road that led her to this moment.

The Natural

It didn’t take long for Sterling Hicks to recognize how talented his newest transfer was.

The Kendrick basketball coach remembers when Lawrence joined the Cherokees in 2010. After living in El Paso, Lawrence and her family moved to Columbus after the death of her stepfather during her freshman year at Burges High School.

A stranger just looking to fit in, Lawrence proved herself to her new coach the moment she got a ball in her hands.

“I knew the first time I met her,” Hicks said. “She was a kid who could shoot the ball naturally. Unlike most girls, she didn’t just throw it up there – she shot it and kept her eyes on the rim. She was the best shooter to ever come through Kendrick and the best girl shooter I’ve ever seen in Columbus. She was just a natural.”

That natural ability was evident early, but it didn’t translate to dominance for the Cherokees. Kendrick had a disappointing 17-11 record in Lawrence’s debut season, a 12-game drop-off from the year before. Hicks figures Lawrence’s unyielding desire to get better drove her teammates to do the same, which caused the team to make tremendous strides her junior year. Kendrick managed 30 wins and made the Class 2A semifinals before falling to Laney.

Lawrence’s junior year was a success, but it was nothing compared to her high school swan song. She was unstoppable in 2013-2014, scoring 26.2 points per game as the Cherokees rolled through a 30-0 season. The last win, a 69-58 victory over Wesleyan, gave Kendrick its second state title in program history.

The progression she helped facilitate at Kendrick was not unlike the one Lawrence would again experience as a Bear.

“I think that was very important to my career as a whole,” Lawrence said. “We’ve kind of been through the same thing here at Mercer where we’ve experienced defeat and made mistakes. I think the things we went through in the past only helped us become better this year.”

Mercer’s playmaker

Gardner remembers Mercer having an early in with Lawrence after Kendrick held a team camp at the university. That advantage, however, went out the window when staff turnover occurred at Mercer.

“We had a total change of staff where the person who was recruiting her got another job,” Gardner said. “We kind of lost her for a few months.”

Luckily for Gardner and the Bears, the silence between the two didn’t last long. Assistant coach Joanna Reitz convinced Gardner to let her go to a tournament in Alabama, one that Lawrence was playing in.

Once the Mercer assistant saw Lawrence up close, the race was back on.

Gardner said she personally recruited Lawrence harder than any player since she’s been at Mercer and joked her car knew how to get to Kendrick on its own. The coach and the recruit talked regularly by phone, and Gardner and her assistants build a true trust with Vontrelle Williams, Lawrence’s mother.

Gardner remembered going to Kendrick, where the teachers and students alike asked her to take care of Kahlia. It drove home the fact Lawrence wasn’t just a superb basketball player – she was the total package as a person.

The coaches were determined to add Lawrence to the fold, and before too long Lawrence was more than willing to join.

“I think it was more of the promise that I could be a part of something great. Mercer wasn’t necessarily the best team at the time, but I knew I could be part of something incredible,” Lawrence said. “I also liked the environment here at Mercer. It’s amazing. We’re a pretty small campus, and I feel like that allows us to know everybody and have relationships with people we interact with every day.”

When Lawrence joined Mercer for the 2014-2015 season, the Bears had four seniors and eight freshmen. The four seniors were four of Mercer’s starters; Lawrence was the fifth.

It became clear to Gardner early on what Lawrence could be. How she handled being the lone freshman on the floor only drove that fact home further.

“When you’d typically have four seniors and one freshman on the floor, you’d be able to immediately pick out the freshman. It wasn’t like that,” Gardner said. “With her, you could just tell she was ready to play Division I basketball the moment she stepped on campus.”

Lawrence’s personal accolades at Mercer read like the longest of laundry lists: SoCon Freshman of the Year, three-time SoCon Player of the Year, three-time All-Conference First Team honors, three-time All-Tournament Team selections, 2017 Georgia Women’s College Player of the Year. But as Gardner explained, the personal awards aren’t what matters to Lawrence; it’s all about what the team is able to do.

That’s what has made Lawrence’s senior year so special. The Bears have been downright dominant in 2017-2018, winning 30 of 32 games with their only losses to Georgia and Western Kentucky in November. Lawrence has led the way, averaging a career-high 19.2 points per game.

“Honestly, it’s probably the most fun I’ve had during a basketball season in my entire life,” Lawrence said. “This is my senior season, and I wanted it to be great. To be able to experience it with my teammates and everybody who’s been here since the beginning has just been awesome.”

Her team-first mindset explains the overwhelming emotion during the selection show Monday. For years now, Lawrence has been awarded for her work, only for the season’s end to come much sooner than planned.

Despite the lack of surprise, everything Lawrence had gone through to reach this point sent a shock through her system. Even those around her could recognize the effect.

“We have so many pictures from people of that exact moment, and you could just see the excitement and emotion on her face,” Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. “Kahlia’s really emotional and excitable, but at the same time I’d never seen her show that type of pure joy, knowing we had made history at Mercer.”

Lawrence said she’s most looking forward to the environment Saturday, a postseason atmosphere even the SoCon tournament can’t imitate. Of course, no one in Mercer Bears history has faced this before, leaving Lawrence and her teammates as the program’s pioneers into the unknown.

It’s a fitting setup, considering how influential Lawrence’s growth and production have been in taking Mercer to new heights. Lawrence’s game grew once she arrived in Macon via Columbus, as did the Bears win totals, going from 20 to 24 then 25 and finally 30.

Lawrence’s college career may hang in the balance come tip-off in Athens, but win or lose, her part in the Mercer program can never be diminished.

“She’s just one of those players I’m so thankful I’ve had the chance to coach,” Gardner said. “She’s a special one. Mercer has been blessed by having her on our campus.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Kendrick alum Kahlia Lawrence prepares to make history yet again for Mercer."