The Clemson women’s basketball team defeated the Mercer Bears 90-66 on Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum to stay undefeated.
In the 24-point victory, Clemson (3-0) pressured Mercer (1-2) into 20 turnovers as a team, with the Tigers tallying a season-high 12 steals. Amari Robinson stole the show for Clemson, pouring in 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the win.
Six Tigers logged at least one steal, and junior forward MaKayla Elmore led the way with three.
Clemson’s aggressive defense led to constant transition scoring opportunities, as the Tigers dominated the Bears in fast break points at 17 to 2 and points off turnovers with 19 compared to 7.
As a team, the Tigers kept Mercer standout forward Stacie Jones in check all game long. Entering Sunday’s matchup, Jones averaged 17.5 points and 14.5 rebounds per game on the young season. The team held Jones to just 8 points and three rebounds.
Offensively for Clemson, the recipe for success was simple: feed Robinson down low and attack the basket, as the Tigers scored 44 of their points in the paint and got to the free-throw line with 28 attempts at the charity stripe.
While Robinson led all scorers with 19 points, Clemson had four other double-figure scorers in its season-high 90-point performance.
Senior guard Day Harris scored 13 points with a game-high five assists, but her constant ball pressure and aggressive defense, resulting in two steals, helped lead to many scoring opportunities for her teammates.
Next up for Clemson is a rivalry matchup against No. 1 South Carolina in Columbia on Thursday, when the Tigers will look for their first win over the Gamecocks since 2009.