Nov. 24, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Chelsee Insell scored 20 points to lead the Samford women's basketball team to a 67-52 win over Alabama A&M on the first night of the Sheraton Roundball Classic, hosted by Birmingham-Southern Friday night at Bill Battle Coliseum.

"I thought we really finished the game right, which we haven't done in the last couple of games," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We won by 15, and that was the largest lead of the game, so I told our team we did a good job of finishing the game in the last four or five minutes."

For Samford (3-1), Insell hit 5-of-6 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. She was also 6-of-6 from the free-throw line on the night. Alex Munday followed Insell with 11 points. Veronica Pike scored nine points and pulled down eight rebounds. Taryn Towns also scored nine points for Samford.

Alabama A&M (2-2) was led by Felicia Drummond with 16 points. Crystal Malone and Christian Malone contributed eight points apiece for Alabama A&M.

In the first half, Samford jumped out to an early 7-2 lead with 16:59 to go on a three-pointer by Insell. Samford pushed its lead out to eight at 12-4 with 14:47 to go on a basket by Tish Pilkerton. Alabama A&M came back with an 11-1 run to take a 15-13 lead with 9:22 to go on a pair of free throws by Dominisha Johnson.

Samford then answered with a 13-1 run of its own to take a 26-16 lead with 4:50 to go in the first half on a three-pointer by Monica Maxwell. Alabama A&M scored the next seven points to cut the Samford lead to three at 26-23, but Samford closed the half with a 10-3 run to take a 36-26 lead into halftime.

Samford pushed its lead out to 14 at 44-30 with 16:05 to go in the game on a jumper by Munday. A&M scored the next six points to cut the lead to eight at 44-36 with 13:57 to go. Samford pushed the lead back out to 11 at 49-38 with 12:13 left in the game on a free throw by Munday. A&M could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, and Samford closed the game on an 8-2 run to take the 67-52 win.

The Sheraton Roundball Classic will conclude on Saturday, with Samford taking on Centenary at 5:00 p.m., and Birmingham-Southern taking on Alabama A&M at 7:00 p.m. The Samford-Centenary game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.al.com/wvsu or www.samfordsports.com.