Dec. 4, 2008

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Samford's Savannah Hill tied a career-high with 23 points to lead the Bulldogs' women's basketball team to its first Southern Conference victory in a 67-62 win at Wofford Thursday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.

"I was very pleased with the way our team played for the last two or three minutes," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "Wofford is a good team that was playing well, but we found a way to make some big shots and get some stops down the stretch."

Behind Hill for Samford, Emily London scored 18 points and Karmen Smith added eight points for the Bulldogs.

"This has been a tough stretch having four games in the last seven or eight days," Morris said. "I was pleased with the way our team found a way to win the basketball game on the road for our first conference win. Savannah Hill and Emily London stepped up late to give us some scoring punch and Karmen Smith hit a big three to help us down the stretch."

For Wofford, Mahagony Williams scored 13 points to lead the Terriers. Kate Dempsey scored 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds and Kelly Dwyer and April Moorhouse added 10 points each for Wofford.

Samford jumped out to an early 9-4 lead with 15:55 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by London. Wofford scored the next five points to tie the score at 9-9 with 14:13 to go in the half. Samford retook the lead at 12-9 after another three-pointer by London, and the Bulldogs pushed the lead out to six at 20-14 with 12:07 to play in the half.

Wofford answered with a 6-0 run to tie the score at 20-20 with 7:14 left in the first half. Samford scored the next five points to take a 25-20 lead with 6:53 to go in the half after a pair of free throws by Hill. Wofford came back to tie the score just before halftime and the teams headed to the locker room tied at 28-28.

After Wofford grabbed an early 32-28 lead with 18:34 to go in the game, Samford answered with a 12-2 run to take a 40-34 lead with 14:02 to go in the game after a layup by Hill. Wofford came back with an 8-2 run to take a 44-42 lead with 10:30 left in the game.

Wofford pushed its lead to four at 48-44 with 8:36 to go in the game after a layup by Moorhouse. Samford fought back to tie the score at 57-57 and the Bulldogs took the lead at 60-57 when Smith hit a three-pointer with 2:33 to go in the game. Samford pushed its lead to five at 64-59 with 21 seconds to go after a pair of free throws by London.

After a Wofford three-pointer cut the Samford lead to two at 64-62, but two free throws by London and one by Hill down the stretch sealed the win for the Bulldogs.

With the win, Samford improves to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in Southern Conference play. Wofford drops to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in SoCon play.

Samford will return to action on Dec. 13 when the Bulldogs play at Baylor. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off from Waco, Texas.