Feb. 15, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Appalachian State's Anna Freeman scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Mountaineer women's basketball team to a 66-55 Southern Conference win at Samford Monday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.

With the loss, Samford drops to 19-8 overall and 13-5 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs are now in a tie for second place in the league standings with College of Charleston, two games behind first-place Chattanooga. Appalachian State improves to 15-10 overall and 11-5 in league play.

"Appalachian State played well," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "They're tough, there is a reason they've won eight out of nine games and they're 8-1 on the road in conference games, and we saw that first-hand tonight. Give credit to them, they played well.

"I was disappointed that we wore down and gave up some offensive rebounds down the stretch," Morris said. "We didn't shoot the ball well. We gave up 16 offensive rebounds, which is way too many."

Samford was led in scoring by Monica Maxwell with 15 points, making 5-of-10 shots, all on three-pointers. Maxwell's five three-pointers give her 206 for her career, setting a new Samford record, breaking Chelsee Insell's previous record of 202. Maxwell has now scored 999 points in her Samford career, leaving her just one point shy of becoming just the sixth player in Samford history to score at least 1,000 points in her career.

Behind Maxwell for Samford, Savannah Hill scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Paige Anderson scored 10 points, while Hannah Dawson added nine points for the Bulldogs.

For Appalachian State, Freeman was followed by Sam Ramirez with 19 points. Chakeitha Weldon scored 10 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.

In the first half, after Samford fell behind early, 6-3, the Bulldogs scored the next five points in a row to take an 8-6 lead with 16:36 to go in the half after a layup by Dawson. The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes until, with Samford leading, 15-14, ASU scored five-straight points to take a 19-15 lead with 9:56 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Ramirez.

Samford came back with a 7-2 run to take a 22-21 lead with 8:41 to go in the opening period after a three-pointer by Maxwell. ASU came back to take a 27-24 lead with 7:28 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Kelsey Sharkey. Samford answered with a 7-0 run to take a 31-27 lead with 5:56 left in the half after a three-pointer by Anderson.

Samford pushed its lead out to five at 37-32 with 2:18 to go in the half, but Appalachian State closed the half with a 5-0 run to tie the score at 37-37 at halftime.

Appalachian State opened the second half with a 7-2 run to take a 44-39 lead with 16:12 to go in the game after a three-pointer by Ramirez. Samford answered with a 7-2 run of its own to tie the score at 46-46 with 12:53 to go after a three-pointer by Maxwell.

With the score tied, 48-48, ASU went on a 9-2 run to take a 57-50 lead with 2:40 to go after a free throw by Freeman. Samford could get no closer than six points the rest of the way as ASU came away with the 66-55 win.

Samford made 34.0 percent of its field goals and 25.9 percent of its three-pointers for the game. In the second half, however, the Bulldogs made just 22.2 percent of its shots overall and 7.1 percent of its three-pointers. Appalachian State shot 37.5 percent overall and 52.6 percent from beyond the arc.

The Mountaineers out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 45-29, and ASU grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to just eight for Samford.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 20, when the Bulldogs travel to Cullowhee, N.C., to take on the Western Carolina Catamounts. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CT) start.