The Mercer women's basketball team won 27 games in a row while running roughshod through the Southern Conference on the way to the program's first league tournament championship.
East Tennessee State had a 20-win season that ended in a loss to the Bears in the championship game.
The two league finalists combined for three wins against the top 101 teams in the Rating Percentage Index, a measure used to indicate the quality of competition teams face through the course of the season.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women had four such wins.
So is their season over?
The Mocs, who finished the season 17-12 after a double-overtime loss to UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament, could find themselves in the 64-team Women's National Invitation Tournament field. They have not only the four wins over teams in or around the top 100 of the latest RPI rankings but eight wins against the top 200.
UTC currently has an RPI of 108, one slot behind ETSU, which swept the Mocs during the regular season and has the SoCon's automatic bid into the WNIT. Yet the Mocs have a case for an at-large spt, having registered a home win over Florida Gulf Coast (52 RPI), a road win at Indiana (54) and neutral-court victories over Georgetown (98) and Auburn (101).
So while the NCAA tournament dreams are over, it's very possible that ETSU won't be the only team representing the SoCon in the WNIT when the brackets are revealed Monday night after the NCAA selection show.
The first-round matchups will take place next Wednesday through Friday.
The Mocs fell to UNCG in the conference tournament quarterfinals despite a career-high 36 points from freshman Brooke Burns, making only her fifth start. The team played without first-team all-league selection Keiana Gilbert, who was injured, and Lakelyn Bouldin, who lost her father to a car accident the Monday before the tournament.
While Bouldin would be available to play if the Mocs are selected, Gilbert was ruled out for the season before the SoCon tournament.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.