Oct. 13, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team opened practice for the 2007-08 season Saturday evening at Seibert Hall.

"I was pleased with today's practice," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought it was a very energetic, spirited and competitive practice. What pleased me most was that we were able to sustain our competitiveness for the whole three hours."

The Bulldogs began practice at 5 p.m., and the workout lasted three hours.

Samford, which was picked second in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference poll, returns three of its five starters from the 2006-07 squad. Seniors Alex Munday and Taryn Towns, and junior Megan Wilderotter return as starters from last season.

Munday has led Samford in scoring for each of her three seasons. She averaged a team-high 14.0 points per game last season, and she was second on the team in rebounding, pulling down 4.6 boards per contest. She was named first-team All-Conference for the Ohio Valley Conference last season, and she was recently named to the preseason All-Conference team for the upcoming season. Munday is Samford's all-time leading scorer with 1,309 career points.

Last season, Towns led the team in assists with 77, and she was fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 7.2 points per game. Wilderotter led the team in steals with 33, she was second on the team in assists with 61, and she was fifth in scoring at 6.0 points per game.

Morris begins his sixth season as the team's head coach. Morris has led the Bulldogs to the first back-to-back winning seasons in the program's history.

Samford opens the regular season on Nov. 9, playing at LSU in the Preseason WNIT. The first home game of the season, and the first regular-season game in the new Pete Hanna Center is scheduled for Nov. 13 against Alabama at 7:30 p.m.