Neal-Tysor’s Career Night Lifts Bears To 88-69 Win At Furman

Thursday, February 23

Greenville, SC

7 PM

Mercer University

12-14,8-5SoCon

Furman University

10-18,2-11SoCon

Mercer

Furman

Neal-Tysor’s Career Night Lifts Bears To 88-69 Win At Furman

2/23/2023 10:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Amoria Neal-Tysor scored a career-high 42 points in the win

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Amoria Neal-Tysor scored a career-high 42 points to lead Mercer in a great night offensively to an 88-69 win at Furman Thursday night.

Neal-Tysor was 14-for-24 (58.3%) from the floor including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. She had 25 points in the first half.

Her 42 points surpassed her previous career-high of 34 points which she had in two different games, most recently in this year's season opener.

Mercer's 88 points were the most the Bears have scored in a game this season and the most they've scored in a game since 2018 when the Bears scored 92 in a win over the Florida Gators.

Mercer was 52 percent from the field and went 10-for-20 from 3-point range. Erin Houpt made half of Mercer's 3-pointers on her way to scoring 18 points to go with four rebounds and two assists.

The Bears had 15 assists in the game, with 13 coming in the second half.

Defensively the Bears had a season-high nine blocks to go with eight steals. Ashlee Locke led the Bears with three blocks and also had a solid night offensively with eight points on 4-for-5 shooting.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer took a 15-10 lead just under five minutes to play in the first quarter after two jump shots from Jaron Dougherty and Neal-Tysor. Furman went on a 6-0 run before a Dougherty layup to close the first quarter with the Paladins leading 20-19.

Neal-Tysor went on a 9-0 run herself to open the second quarter and give Mercer a 28-22 lead. The Bears scored the last five points of the first half and took a 41-32 lead into halftime.

Furman cut the deficit to five at 41-36 to start the third quarter. Then, Neal-Tysor would score the next six points of the game, followed by three consecutive 3-pointers from Houpt to give Mercer its largest lead of the game at 56-42.

Neal-Tysor broke her career-high in points with a pair of free throws in the third quarter to give her 35 points heading to the fourth quarter.

Mercer scored 29 points in the third quarter shooting better than 50 percent from the field including 5-for-9 from 3-point range.

Mercer's offense didn't slow down in the fourth quarter, as the Bears made 50 percent of their shots in the quarter, with six different players scoring.

COACH GARDNER ON TEAM'S PERFORMANCE IN ADDITION TO NEAL-TYSOR'S CAREER NIGHT
"I thought Ashlee played one of her best games on both ends of the floor. Houpt shot the ball great. Maria had some good minutes for us as well. Maria's been practicing very well. Obviously, Amoria was feeling it from the beginning. Minus getting outrebounded, I felt like for the most part we played a solid game, and everyone contributed."

NOTABLES

Neal-Tysor's 42 points were the most points an opposing player has ever scored in Furman's Timmons Arena.
Despite a season-high 88 points, the Bears' 32 made field goals are actually the second-most they have made in a game this season (34 vs FGCU).
Mercer's 10 made 3-pointers are tied for the most they have made this season (10 vs Wofford).
Freshman Maria Serracanta played a career-high 23 minutes and had a career-best six assists to one turnover.
Mercer shot 52.5 percent from the field, it's second best percentage in conference play this season (53.4 at Chattanooga).

UP NEXT:
Mercer will finish the regular season, Saturday, Feb. 25 at Wofford. Tip off is at 2 p.m. ET.

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.