MACON, Ga. — After missing the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in the last six years, Mercer women's basketball head coach Susie Gardner knew she needed somebody to play the post.
Well, that's exactly who she found right in the Bears' backyard of Central Georgia.
For Stacie Jones, less is more.
"Honestly I don't think most of the time when I'm on the floor and if I'm doing well I'm not thinking," Jones said. "That's what makes me do good, when I just play instead of overthinking stuff."
That remains true even when it's her former team on the other side of the court. Last week against Kennesaw State, Jones recorded her third double-double as a Bear.
Just another game, right?
"It was not just another game for her," Mercer head coach Susie Gardner said. "I was talking to her every day leading up to it, like, 'Are you okay?' You could tell she was elevated. I know that her heart was pumping out of her chest before that game. I was very happy for her."
The Veterans High School grad was not recruited by Mercer out of high school, but after Jones put up big numbers in Kennesaw's games against the Bears, that changed pretty quick.
When it was time for Stacie to make a change, Coach Gardner's message to her was clear.
"She knew what I could do," Jones said. "She knew my strengths already coming here and that I had potential. She told me, 'we need a rebounder.' I rebound."
And because of that, Stacie is now making Mercer's inside game as good as it's ever been.
Jones says she's playing as good as she ever has, while also staying as loose as she ever has been — and that's credited to the rest of her team.
"The girls make me so happy," Jones said. "The biggest thing I want to do was play with blissfulness and just to be happy while playing and not really stressing as much. Basketball can be so stressful and really taxing on the mind. These girls take it off."
The Mercer Bears have their best shot at a fifth Southern Conference title this spring, with the help of a hometown hero.
"We have all the skills," Jones said. "We have all the pieces like Coach Gardner would say. We just have to turn it up a notch in those clutch times to play. That's what we need in order to be at the NCAA Tournament. And it's my first time being a part of a team where we can actually do it."