Bears Feeling Merrie After 50-Point Home Victory

Tuesday, December 15

Macon, Ga.

7 P.M.

Mercer University

4-3,0-0SoCon

South Carolina State

1-5,0-0MEAC

South Carolina St.

Mercer

Photo by: Alex Keller

Bears Feeling Merrie After 50-Point Home Victory

12/15/2020 9:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Jaron Dougherty recorded game highs in points (19) and rebounds (8)

By: Stephen Waldman

MACON, Ga. – Christmas came early for the Mercer women's basketball team as the Bears picked up 50-point victory over South Carolina State, 77-27, Tuesday evening in Hawkins Arena.

The win was Mercer's second victory by at least 50 points this season after defeating Covenant by 53 (78-25) on Dec. 5. The Bears supported the Merrie Christmas Project by allowing fans receive free admission to the game if they brought an unwrapped toy to donate. For those who wish to continue to donate and spread Christmas cheer throughout central Georgia this holiday season, click here.

The Bears took control of the game early and held SC State to 10-of-48 (20.8 percent) from the floor in the game while forcing a season-high 26 turnovers with 14 steals. The Bears converted those turnovers into points as they outscored SCSU 25-3 on fast breaks and 40-1 off turnovers. Mercer outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs, 48-32, including 19 offensive boards that resulted in 19 second-chance points.

Offensively, Mercer shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67) from the field and 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from beyond-the-arc. The Bears took care of the ball, turning the ball over just eight times in the game for their third consecutive contest with fewer than 10 giveaways. Juniors Jaron Dougherty (19 pts./8 reb.) and Amoria Neal-Tysor (17 pts./4 ast./4 stl.) paced the Bears' scoring efforts, while redshirt senior Jada Lewis added 16 points and five assists. Sophomore Jill Harris added a game-high seven assists, her most in a game this season. Senior Shannon Titus scored seven points and brought down seven rebounds while creating two steals. Redshirt junior Kiana Barkhoff was a blocking machine in the game, denying a personal best four blocks for the most in the game. Redshirt junior Sierra Votaw was also active on the defensive end, collecting six rebounds and a block.

How It Happened
Mercer started the game red hot as the home side scored the first 17 points of the game on 7-of-12 shooting and 2-of-3 makes from long range. Neal-Tysor (10 pts.) and Dougherty (6 pts.) were the catalysts for the quick start to the game, accounting for 16 of the team's 17 points. The Bears did the majority of the damage through the first 3:23 when a 4-of-6 start from the floor was capped with a 3-pointer by Neal-Tysor to push the lead to 9-0.

🔥🔥🔥

ANT knocks down a 👌 as the Bears are off to a 9-0 run to start the game! 🙌#DefineYourMoment | @bballmori10 pic.twitter.com/fF3BW9WxnD
— Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 16, 2020

South Carolina State managed to get on the board with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter when Amiah Lindsay made shot through contact to snap an 0-of-10 start for the visitors. After Lindsay converted the free throw to complete the three-point play, Mercer extended its lead to 21-3 after adding four more points in the final 70 seconds of the period. The home side managed to keep SCSU to single digit points in the first half thanks to a last-second block by Barkhoff that sent the Bears into halftime with a 36-9 edge.

You might not be able to see it, but you better 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 @EPEDtogether is smiling under that mask after that @KianaBarkhoff block! 😁😷🙅‍♀️#DefineYourMoment | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/ViBUSFw36F
— Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 16, 2020

The Bears' offense cooled off a bit to start the second quarter, missing their first eight shots of the frame. Fortunately, the Lady Bulldogs were unable to take advantage as their offensive woes continued as they only managed to score four points 1-of-5 shooting thanks to a three-pointer by Somer Wilson and a free throw from Jacquece Alston.

Mercer regrouped and utilized a 24-2 run to increase its lead to 45-9 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter. The Bears' defense provided unrelenting pressure throughout the entire 40 minutes as they forced SCSU into four shot clock violations, including three in the second half and two in the fourth quarter.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Bears came away with their second 50-point victory on their home court this season and held SC State to the third-fewest points in a single game this season.

This one's for 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆! 🎄🎁

LIGHT THE BRIDGE!#LightTheBridge | #DefineYourMoment pic.twitter.com/EtOsvkLQdq
— Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 16, 2020

Quotables – Head coach Susie Gardner
On gaining the momentum early in the game…
"Our defense did a good job to start the game. We started out in zone, and they had some trouble scoring. When your defense is working hard, it makes everyone not want to be the one who get scored on. I was really proud of the way we played defense, not just the first quarter but also the first half as we held them to nine points. So it was a good effort defensively and decent effort offensively."

On the pace of play…
"We were able to get some deflections and steals which allowed us to run. I think we're really good when we run. We're a little bit better when we run than when we set up right now, but we have good athletes, good passers and good scorers in transition. I felt like that's something we've been working on, but we haven't really been in that position to get that many run outs before tonight."

On the Merrie Christmas Project…
"I think Merrie would have enjoyed this game. She used to come to the games and sometimes she had a court side seat. I saw her dad, Mike, up there in the gym before the game and hopefully it went well for them. I know he's been working hard getting gifts for people, but hopefully the people that came were able to donate something. And even for the people that weren't able to come tonight, just letting them know about it will hopefully open their hearts to give and know how blessed people are in the city of Macon because of it."

Assistant Coach Ben Wierzba

Player of the Game
Jaron Dougherty continues to be one of the top players for Mercer night-in and night-out, recording 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, two steals and a block in the win. The reigning SoCon Player of the Week reached double figures for the sixth consecutive game while eclipsing 15 points for the fifth time. It was also her sixth game with at least eight rebounds and the fifth with three offensive boards.

Notables
» Mercer's 27 points allowed was the third-fewest in a Division I game this season behind UConn (23 vs. UMass Lowell, Dec. 12) and Indiana (26 vs. Samford, Dec. 3).
» Mercer held SCSU to three points in the first quarter, its' second fewest in a quarter this season after holding Covenant to two points in the third quarter on Dec. 5.
» The Bears limited the Lady Bulldogs to nine points in the first half, the fewest in the Susie Gardner era (since 2010).
» Mercer held an opponent to 30 points or less for the 19th time in program history.
» The Bears improved to 4-0 in games when controlling the opening tip.
» Mercer posted fewer than 10 turnovers for the third consecutive game.
» Tonight was the Bears' second wire-to-wire victory of the season.
» Neal-Tysor posted her fifth game in double figures this season and 24th of her career after a 12-point first quarter.
» Neal-Tysor tallied her 200th career made field goal against SCSU with six makes from the field.
» Neal-Tysor matched her career high with four steals, which was set on Nov. 28 against Tennessee State.
» Barkhoff posted a career-high four blocks in the game.
» Dougherty reached double figures with at least eight assists for the sixth consecutive outing.
» Harris dished out a season-high seven assists, surpassing the 150 mark for her career with 151.
» Lewis notched her fourth game in double figures since joining the Bears.
» Lewis matched her season best with three 3-pointers and five assists in the game.
» Titus garnered her fourth seven-rebound game of the season.
» Titus added her fifth consecutive game with multiple steals.
» Votaw gathered a season-high six rebounds in the game.
» Freshman Sydneey Boykin scored a career-high four points as she was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Up Next
The Bears will be away from Hawkins Arena until Jan. 21, 2021 as Mercer begins a six-game road trip on Friday at Western Kentucky. Tip-off against the Hilltoppers is slated for 8 p.m. (ET) and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @Mercer_WBB (Twitter), /MercerWBB (Facebook) and @MercerWBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.