Dec. 29, 2009

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Samford junior guard Emily London scored 19 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 62-46 win over Cornell Tuesday evening in the consolation game of the Marriott Cavalier Classic at Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena.

"I thought our team played well for about 30 minutes," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought we really controlled the game and came back with a lot of energy after a physical game against Virginia. We executed on both ends of the floor and built a 29-point lead, and we were able to play a lot of people so hopefully that will help us down the road."

Samford improves to 9-5 on the season with the win. Cornell drops to 5-6 overall with the loss.

For Samford, London made 6-of-7 field goals, including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range. Senior guard Monica Maxwell scored 11 points for the Bulldogs, while senior guard Megan Wilderotter and junior forward Savannah Hill added eight points each for Samford.

Hill and freshman forward Hannah Dawson shared the team lead in rebounding with eight each. Wilderotter and Hill had four assists each to share the team lead in that category.

Cornell was led by Allie Fedorowicz with 10 points. Lauren Benson led all players with 10 rebounds for the Big Red.

In the first half, Samford jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. With the Bulldogs leading, 7-4, Samford went on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 14-4 with 13:37 to go in the opening period after a three-pointer by London. Cornell scored the next six points to cut the lead to four at 14-10 with 12:00 left in the first half.

Samford pushed its lead out to 12 at 27-15 with 6:09 to go after a three-pointer by Dawson. With Samford leading, 30-19, the Bulldogs closed the half with an 8-2 run to take a 38-21 lead into halftime.

Samford scored the first nine points of the second half to push its lead to 26 at 47-21 with 15:37 to go after a layup by Wilderotter. Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 29 at 54-25 with 13:27 to go in the contest.

Cornell then scored the next 11 points to cut the lead to 18 at 54-36 with 8:34 to go in the game. Samford pushed the lead back out to 22 at 62-40 with 3:27 to go after a free throw by J'Quita Babineaux. Cornell scored the final six points of the game to make the final score 62-46.

For the game, Samford shot 42.6 percent, including a 43.5-percent effort from three-point range. Cornell made 39.5 percent of its shot, and 15.4 percent of its three-pointers. Samford out-rebounded Cornell, 33-27.

The Cornell game concludes the 2009 portion of Samford's schedule. The Bulldogs will return to action on Jan. 2, when they play host to Georgia Southern. The Southern Conference game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.