Nov. 10, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team used a balanced attack to take an 80-43 exhibition win over Cumberland University Tuesday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.

"We had a lot of people do a lot of good things," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in terms of everybody playing and getting come meaningful reps. I think this was a good start, but we have a long way to go and a lot of improvement to make, particularly on the defensive end."

Samford was led in scoring by freshman Hannah Dawson, scoring 16 points, making all five of her shots from the floor, including three three-point baskets. Monica Maxwell scored 12 points and Emily London added 11 points.

Alex Crow scored nine points for Samford, while Savannah Hill and Jazmine Martin added eight points apiece. Maxwell was also the team's leading rebounder with eight. Megan Wilderotter dished out six assists in the win.

For Cumberland, Stephanie Martin led the way with 13 points. Angie Wells scored 11 points, while Simone Ryan added nine points and 11 rebounds.

The game was close for the first few minutes, with Samford holding a 7-5 advantage with 15:09 to go in the first half. Samford then went on an 18-0 run over the next seven minutes to give the Bulldogs a 25-5 lead with 8:04 to go in the half.

Cumberland fought back to cut the lead to 13 at 28-15 with 4:49 to go in the first half after a jumper by Wells. Samford then scored the next seven points to push its lead back out to 20 at 35-15 with 3:39 to go in the half after a layup by Wilderotter. Samford took a 39-20 lead into halftime.

Samford opened the second half with an 11-0 run to push its lead to 50-20 with 18:02 to go in the game after another layup by Wilderotter. Samford led by as much as 39 points in the second half at 78-39 and 80-41 on its way to the 80-43 win.

As a team, Samford shot 43.8 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from three-point range. Cumberland made 31.1 percent of its shots and 11.1 percent of its three-point attempts. Samford committed just eight turnovers, while forcing Cumberland into 21 turnovers.

Samford will open the 2009-10 regular season Friday night against in-state rival Jacksonville State.

"We're always excited to play Jacksonville State," Morris said. "This is always a rivalry game and it is always meaningful. The real season starts Friday. We're definitely going to have to improve from tonight's performance if we are going to have a chance to win Friday night."

Friday night's regular-season opener against Jacksonville State is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off from the Pete Hanna Center. Fans can follow the game live via GameTracker at the following link: GameTracker