Mercer Dominates on Glass in 64-46 Win Over South Alabama

Sunday, December 4

Macon, Ga.

2 PM

Mercer University

3-4,0-0SoCon

University of South Alabama

2-5,0-0Sun Belt

South Alabama

Mercer

Mercer Dominates on Glass in 64-46 Win Over South Alabama

12/4/2022 6:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mercer out rebounded South Alabama 46-31

MACON, Ga. – Amoria Neal-Tysor poured in 22 points and Mercer used a decisive rebounding advantage to defeat South Alabama 64-46 on Sunday afternoon from Hawkins Arena.

Mercer's defense was outstanding all afternoon, holding the Jaguars to just 1-of-16 (6.3 percent) from three-point range. South Alabama made a season-low 12 field goal attempts and had a season-low 24.5 percent field goal percentage.

Neal-Tysor scored 16 of her 22 points in the first half. She finished the day 9-of-17 from the field.

Despite being the only Bear in double figures, Mercer had seven players finish with at least four points on the afternoon. Brittany Reeves matched her season-high with 11 rebounds and Jaron Dougherty had eight points and five rebounds.

Leading by 10 to start the fourth quarter, Mercer quickly put the game out of reach for South Alabama going on a 15-1 run to begin the fourth quarter and stretch its lead to 24 points at 62-38.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bears led 7-2 in the opening minutes with Neal-Tysor scoring the first seven points for the Bears. Despite having their worst shooting quarter (28.6 percent) of the game in the first quarter the Bears held South Alabama to just seven points in the quarter and led 11-7.

The Bears stretched their lead to 21-8 over the first four minutes of the second quarter. Neal-Tysor and Nigeria Harkless scored 11 of the first 13 points for the Bears in the second quarter.

Great effort by @erin_houpt10 to save the ball from going out and she finds @brittreeves_ for the layup!#UsVsUs | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/EPIOpxFXwC
— Mercer Women's Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) December 4, 2022

Over the final two minutes of the second quarter, twice Erin Houpt was fouled while shooting a three pointer. Houpt made all six of her free throws and Mercer took a 35-24 lead into halftime.

A 7-0 run to begin the second half by South Alabama shrunk Mercer's lead to four at 35-31. However, that was as close as South Alabama would get for the remainder of the game.
From there, five different Mercer players would score over the final five minutes of the third quarter and a layup by Ashlee Locke gave Mercer a 47-35 lead.

Mercer came out strong to open the fourth quarter, going on a 15-1 run over the first six minutes to stretch its lead to 24 at 62-38. South Alabama did not have a made field goal in the quarter until 1:59 left in the game. The Bears were 8-of-14 (57.1) percent from the field in the fourth quarter.

COACH GARDNER ON KEYS TO THE GAME

"I thought Enjulina gave us a good spark off the bench. Brittany did an amazing job on the glass. They are a great rebounding team, so I was really really pleased with our rebounding effort. We got the ball to Enjy [Enjulina Gonzalez], she was able to push it and it picked up our tempo a lot and allowed us to score easier baskets than in the first half."

BRITTANY REEVES ON PHYSICAL BATTLES IN THE PAINT

"That's definitely something that we expected coming in. We knew that they had a real strong, physical post, so I think coming in we knew that we had to be aggressive and go crash the boards."

NOTABLES

Amoria Neal-Tysor's 22 points were her most since she scored 32 in the season-opening win over Middle Tennessee State.
Mercer outrebounded South Alabama 46-31. The best rebounding margin of the season for the Bears.
Mercer led for the entire game after Neal-Tysor's opening basket 16 seconds into the game.
Mercer had a season-high 16 offensive rebounds.

UP NEXT
Mercer travels to Athens, Georgia to play the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tip off is set for 11 a.m.

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