Jan. 4, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford junior guard Emily London scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 70-47 Southern Conference win over SoCon-leading College of Charleston Monday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.

"The biggest thing I liked was they had 15 points in the second half," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought our team responded defensively. We started off great offensively, but we didn't defensively. But I thought from the middle part of the first half and the entire second half, we really guarded well. We took pride in our defense and we responded against a good Charleston team."

As a team, Samford made 48 percent (12-of-25) of its three-pointers, while holding College of Charleston to just 20 percent (3-of-15). Samford forced the Cougars into 18 turnovers, while the Bulldogs committed just 13 turnovers of their own.

With her 28 points in the game, London moves into third place on Samford's all-time scoring list. She now has 1,030 career points, passing Chelsee Insell's 1,008 for third place. Samford's all-time leading scorer is Alex Munday, who scored 1,603 points in her Samford career.

Following London for Samford, senior guard Monica Maxwell scored 17 points, pulled down six rebounds and dished out three assists. Junior forward Savannah Hill had nine points and seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Alex Crow scored six points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

For College of Charleston, Brooke Kotcella led the way with 14 points. Ericka Williams had 13 points and eight rebounds. Tonia Gerty had nine points and five assists for the Cougars.

The game was close throughout the first half. The score was tied six times in the first 10 minutes of the half. With the score tied, 20-20, Samford went on a 9-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 4:38 to go in the first half after a pair of free throws by London.

The seven-point lead for Samford was the largest for either team in the first half. Samford took a 36-32 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Samford pushed its lead out to10 at 47-37 with 16:36 to go after a three-pointer by Maxwell. With Samford leading, 47-40, the Bulldogs went on an 18-2 run to push their lead to 65-42 with 8:57 left in the game after a three-pointer by London.

College of Charleston scored the next five points to cut the lead to 18 at 65-47 with 5:47 left in the game. Samford scored the final five points in the game to make the final score 70-47.

With the win, Samford improves to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in SoCon play. College of Charleston drops to 9-5 overall and 4-2 in league play.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 9, when the Bulldogs play at Davidson. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Davidson, N.C.