Feb. 23, 2008

Box Score

MURRAY, Ky. - Samford's Emily London scored a career-high 21 points, but it was not enough as the Bulldog women's basketball team dropped a 74-64 decision at Murray State Saturday afternoon.

The loss ends an eight-game winning streak for Samford. Murray State out-rebounded Samford, 43-32, and the Lady Racers grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the game.

"We couldn't box them out and that was the bottom line," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "They had second and third opportunities almost every trip. All of their players crash the boards, and we just really didn't do a good job with that, and I thought that cost us the game."

For Samford (21-7, 14-4 OVC) behind London, Alex Munday scored 18 points and Chika Okoli added eight points.

For Murray State (19-7, 13-5 OVC), Ashley Hayes scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Angela Brown had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Alaina Lee scored 15 points and Amber Guffey added 13 points for the Lady Racers.

Samford jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the first half. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 12 at 26-14 with 10:02 to go in the first half after a jumper by London. Murray State, however, went on an 18-6 run to tie the score at 32-32 with 2:45 to go in the first half.

With the score tied at 34-34, Samford closed the half with a 7-0 run and the Bulldogs took a 41-34 lead into halftime.

Samford pushed its lead back out to 10 at 46-36 early in the second half. Murray State came back with a 21-2 run to take a 57-48 lead with 9:43 to go after a jumper by Hayes.

Samford scored the next six points in a row to cut the lead to three at 57-54 with 8:42 to go following a jumper by London. MSU then went on a 13-4 run to push its lead to 12 at 70-58 with 2:20 to go after a three-point play by Brown.

Samford could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as the Lady Racers came away with the 74-64 win.

Samford will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 28, when the Bulldogs play at Southeast Missouri at 5 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/groups/wvsu/. The game can also be viewed on the internet at www.ovcsports.tv.