Rosewood's Mercer signs with Elon University

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 13, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Shawn Farmer knew just exactly what the vibrant, pony-tailed eighth-grader with a passion for basketball needed the first time he met her -- a good firm push to make her better.

At first, Lexi Mercer resisted.

Then she adjusted to the early-morning workouts, six-hour days in the gym during the weekend and the shooting and ball-handling drills that she eventually dreamed about when her head dropped into her pillow at night.

But she struggled with the mental side of the game.

"He's like a dad to me," Mercer said of Farmer, head coach of the AAU Carolina Zoom. "We butt heads sometimes and I want to beat him up. But when you step between the lines, you let everything go. It's just me and him in the gym, and he pushes me as hard as he can.

"He rearranged my way of thinking that when I want to give up, my mind gears in and I just push that much harder. He taught me most of the stuff that I know about the game and it's really changed everything."

Farmer's teaching, indeed, changed Mercer's life Thursday afternoon.

The all-time leading scorer in Rosewood women's basketball history, Mercer signed a national letter-of-intent with Elon University as her classmates clapped twice and yelled "that's what we like!"

It was an easy decision for Mercer.

In fact, she wanted to step into head coach Charlotte Smith's office and sign the paperwork during her official campus visit.

"When I first started thinking about my college decision, I thought the big school was what I wanted and I realize it's not all about that," said Mercer, who also considered Old Dominion, George Mason and Radford.

"It's the people that you're going to surround yourself with because I'm going to be with them every day of the year. I have to live with them, travel with them and I wanted to surround myself with people that it's going to make me happy."

Farmer describes Mercer as the complete player.

The 5-foot-9 small forward can score, defend, rebound and pass the ball better than most players currently on the AAU circuit.

RHS head coach Rick Grantham characterizes Mercer as "the best teammate he's ever coached." He's watched her take younger and inexperienced players under her wings during practice, and teach them the basics of where they need to be offensively and defensively on the court.

"She epitomizes what you want in a basketball player, somebody coming from a place where she didn't realize it could happen if she worked hard," Farmer said. "I pushed her really, really hard, but I know what she had in her so I could do it. (People) just look at the finished product when they come out here on Tuesdays and Fridays (to watch Mercer play)."

During her three-year varsity career, Mercer has helped guide Rosewood to 65 wins, two consecutive Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season titles and two straight appearances in the eastern regional championship game.

Mercer is a two-time Associated Press All-State recipient and has scored 1,837 points in her career. She nearly averaged a double-double -- 25.5 points, 9.6 rebounds -- a year ago.

Elon compiled a 19-13 record and advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals last season. The Phoenix earned a bid to Women's National Invitational Tournament and lost in the first round at Georgia Tech.

That success caught Mercer's attention.

She wants to help Elon win the CAA and advance to the NCAA tournament. To do that, Mercer must continue to improve her ball-handling skills and add some muscle to her lean body so she can handle the physicality associated with the Division I game.

"When I get there next summer, we're going to hit the weight room really hard and getting big is a thing that obviously I need because I'm really skinny," Mercer said. "I like to score the ball. Hopefully, I can come in off the bench and score some points, maybe provide a spark.

"I've been dreaming of (this day) since I was five years old. I didn't know if it was going to actually happen. I guess the bottom line is if you put in the work, it will pay off."

Just ask Farmer.