Throughout the season, Florida Southern head women’s basketball coach Betsy Harris has urged Mercedez Claybrone to shoot the ball.

LAKELAND — Throughout the season, Florida Southern head women’s basketball coach Betsy Harris has urged Mercedez Claybrone to shoot the ball.

Often paired with junior Anja Fuchs-Robetin, Claybrone is a beneficiary of the constant double-teams drawn by her frontcourt partner. To Harris’ occasional chagrin, the junior from Fort Walton Beach doesn’t always take advantage of those opportunities.

Facing fourth-place Barry on Saturday, Claybrone took advantage.

The 5-foot-11 forward scored a career-high 14 points as Florida Southern beat the Buccaneers 77-60 in front of 226 fans at Jenkins Field House.

“I just try to listen to what they say,” Claybrone said. “(Assistant coach Tianni Kelly) told me during warm ups to just sit on the high post and shoot the ball the whole time. They knew that shot would be open. (Harris) told me to just shoot with confidence, that’s what I tried to do.”

The Mocs (18-3, 13-2 SSC) beat Barry (15-7, 8-6 SSC) on a night where Fuchs-Robetin (11 points on 4-of-9 shooting) struggled. With Claybrone playing her best game of the season, two thirds of the team’s “Big Three” was enough for a win.

“She’s got to shoot it,” Harris said of Claybrone. “I like for all of our players to be able to shoot it, you have to make shots.”

Jensen Blassage scored 17 points while Camille Giardina added 19 points as injury-plagued Southern continues to search for complimentary scoring options.

“We have the ‘Big Three’ and everybody knows we have the ‘Big Three,’” Claybrone said. “Everybody wants to focus on stopping the ‘Big Three’ and it just leaves us open and makes it easier for us. I appreciate everything they do.”

Florida Southern led by as many as 18 points in the second half, taking control midway through the second quarter. Barry, one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the conference, hit just 3 of 24 attempts from downtown.

The Mocs, meanwhile, won comfortably despite being out-rebounded 38-28.

Southern remains just one game ahead of second-place Embry-Riddle but, with Saturday’s win, have yet to lose since the calendar flipped to 2018. The Mocs’ 11-game winning streak is their longest since the 2010-11 season.