Jan. 14, 2009

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Samford women's basketball team earned its seventh-straight Southern Conference win in a 58-52 victory at Furman Wednesday night at Timmons Arena.

In the win, Samford held Furman, the top three-point shooting team in the Southern Conference, to just 16.7 percent from three-point range and 31.3 percent overall. Samford made 47.8 percent of its three-pointers in the game.

"We had a great team defensive effort tonight," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We have very unselfish players. Sometimes selfishness shows up on the defensive end, but we are very unselfish as a basketball team and that is why we are able to guard. Offensively, we made a lot of mistakes, but shooting the ball well, especially from the arc makes up for a multitude of sins."

The game ends a four-game road swing for Samford, with the Bulldogs posting a 4-0 record during the stretch. For the season, Samford improves to 12-3 overall and 7-1 in SoCon games, placing the Bulldogs in a three-way tie for first place in the league. Furman drops to 10-8 overall and 4-5 in league play.

"When we start practice in October we talk about practicing to win games on the road," Morris said. "This is a credit to our players and their mental toughness that they are willing to defend because that gives you a chance to win games on the road. We also have great senior leadership on this team."

Samford was led in scoring by sophomore guard Emily London with 14 points. Senior forward Chika Okoli and sophomore forward Savannah Hill added 12 points each for the Bulldogs.

Furman was led by Melissa Liebschwager with 16 points. Lee Stephens scored 12 points, and Katie Johnson had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sarah Baker led all rebounder s with 12 boards in the game.

Samford jumped out to an early 9-4 lead with 14:04 to go in the first half after two three-pointers by London and one by junior guard Monica Maxwell. Furman fought back to cut the lead to one at 9-8 with 11:25 to go in the half.

With the game tied at 16-16, Samford scored the next five points in a row to take a 21-16 lead with 5:49 to go in the half after a layup by Okoli. Samford took a 25-21 lead into halftime.

After Furman cut the Samford lead to one at 28-27 early in the second half, Samford went on a 9-2 run to push its lead to eight at 37-29 with 14:17 to go in the game after a three-pointer by junior guard Megan Wilderotter.

Samford pushed its lead out to 12 at 43-31 with 11:48 to go after a three-pointer by senior guard Karmen Smith. With Samford leading, 48-37, Furman went on a 10-3 run to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 51-47 with 5:21 to play after a jumper by Susan Troutman.

With Samford leading, 53-47, a three-pointer by Liebschwager cut the lead to 53-50 with 2:39 to play in the game. Samford answered with a three-pointer by Okoli to push its lead back to six at 56-50 with 1:32 to play, and Samford was able to hang on for the 58-52 win.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 17, when the Bulldogs play host to Appalachian State. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.