Jan. 31, 2009

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - The Samford women's basketball team closed the game with an 11-2 run to take a 61-50 Southern Conference win at Elon Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.

"Elon played a great game," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We were very fortunate to get the win. However, I was very pleased with the way our team took control of the game late. Karmen Smith and Megan Wilderotter made some big shots down the stretch to help us win the game."

Samford improves to 17-3 overall and 12-1 in SoCon play with the win. Samford has now won 12-straight conference games and 11-straight games overall. Both streaks are program bests. Elon drops to 2-20 overall and 0-13 in league play.

Samford was led in scoring by sophomore forward Savannah Hill with 17 points. Junior guard Megan Wilderotter and senior guard Karmen Smith scored nine points each.

For Elon, Julie Taylor led the way with 14 points. Urysla Cotton scored 12 points, and Erica Keto led all players in rebounding with 10.

Elon jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with 14:26 to play in the first half. Samford took its first lead of the game at 9-8 with 10:23 to go in the half after a pair of free throws by Chika Okoli.

Elon quickly took the lead back at 10-9 after a jumper by Tiara Gause with 10:06 to go in the first half. With the game tied at 14-14, Elon scored the next six points in a row to take a 20-14 lead with 4:50 to go in the first half. Samford fought back to cut the lead to one at halftime at 25-24.

Samford opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take a 32-25 lead with 17:06 to go in the game after a pair of free throws by Emily London. The Phoenix answered with a 12-3 run to take a 37-35 lead with 13:08 to go after a layup by Cotton.

Elon pushed its lead to six at 44-38 with 10:33 left in the game. Samford scored the next 10 points in a row to take a 48-44 lead with 6:22 to go after a three-pointer by Smith.

With Samford leading, 50-48, the Bulldogs closed the game with an 11-2 run to take the 61-50 win.

For the game, Samford shot 42.9 percent, including a 50.0-percent effort in the second half. The Samford defense held Elon to 38.2 percent from the floor. Samford made 86.7 percent (13-of-15) of its free throws, compared to 42.9 percent (3-of-7) for Elon.

Samford will return to action on Monday, Feb. 2, when the Bulldogs play at UNC Greensboro. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Greensboro, N.C.