Dec. 19, 2009

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - Samford sophomore guard Paige Anderson scored a career-high 19 points to lead four players in double figures as the Bulldog women's basketball team claimed a 72-63 Southern Conference win at Elon Saturday afternoon.

"This is a very good win for us," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought, defensively we really set the tone. Even when they scored, they had to work for it, and that is the mark of a team that can win conference games on the road by being unselfish."

Anderson made 5-of-7 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Behind Anderson for Samford, junior guard Emily London scored 18 points, junior forward Savannah Hill scored 16 points and freshman forward Hannah Dawson added 11 points.

Samford senior guard Monica Maxwell had a career-high 12 rebounds in the win. Dawson also had a career-high in rebounds with eight.

For Elon, Ali Ford led the way with 25 points. Urysla Cotton and Lei Lei Hairston added 14 points each for the Phoenix.

Samford jumped out to an early 8-2 lead with 18:20 to go in the first half after a three-point play by Dawson. Elon scored the next six points to tie the score at 8-8 with 14:59 to go in the half.

With Samford leading, 11-10, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to push their lead to 18-10 with 12:19 to go in the half after a three-pointer by London. Elon answered with an 11-0 run to take a 21-18 lead with 5:06 to go in the first half.

Samford came back with a 13-2 run to take a 31-23 lead with just under a minute to play in the half. Samford took a 31-25 lead into halftime.

In the second half, with Samford leading, 33-30, the Bulldogs went on an 11-2 run to push their lead to 12 at 44-32 with 14:27 to go after a layup by Hill. With Samford leading, 46-35, Elon went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to four at 46-42 with 12:01 to go in the game.

Samford pushed its lead back out to 11 at 55-44 with 9:07 left after a three-pointer by Dawson. After Elon cut the lead to nine at 55-46, Samford scored the next four points for its biggest lead of the game of 13 points at 59-46 with 7:21 left after a layup by Dawson.

With Samford leading, 64-51, Elon went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to six at 64-58 with 1:34 to go in the game. However, that was as close at the Phoenix could get as Samford came away with the 72-63 win.

With the win, Samford improves to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in SoCon play. Elon drops to 4-6 overall and 1-3 in league play. Samford shot 42.3 percent from the floor, including a 32.0 percent effort from three-point range. Elon shot 35.0 percent overall and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Samford will return to action on Monday, Dec. 21, when the Bulldogs play at SoCon foe UNC Greensboro. The game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. (CT) start from Greensboro, N.C., and it can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.