Nov. 21, 2009

Box Score

LAKE CHARLES, La. - The Samford women's basketball team used a strong second-half performance to earn a 72-58 win at McNeese State in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon.

"Any road win is a good win," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "McNeese State outplayed us and was tougher in the first half. It's a credit to our players that we came back and played a very good second half, especially offensively. It was a great team effort in the second half and our bench play was very productive."

Samford was led by Savannah Hill with 19 points. Emily London scored 15 points, while Hannah Dawson scored 14 points and Monica Maxwell added 10 points.

For McNeese State, Kiara Johnson led all players with 20 points. Kendra Wells added 11 points for the Cowgirls.

Samford trailed McNeese State, 27-26, heading into halftime, but the Bulldogs outscored the Cowgirls, 46-31 to earn the win.

Samford opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a 38-29 lead following a jumper by London with 16:46 to go in the game. MSU cut the lead to two at 41-39 with 12:02 to go in the game.

Samford scored the next six points to push its lead to eight at 47-39 with 10:26 to go after a layup by Dawson. McNeese State could get no closer than six points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 72-58 win.

As a team, Samford hit 47 percent of its shots from the floor, including 45 percent of its three-pointers. McNeese State made 35 percent of its field goals and 33 percent of its three-pointers.

Samford improves to 3-0 with the win. McNeese State is currently 1-2 on the season.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 24, when the Bulldogs play at 20th-ranked Maryland. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from College Park, Md.