Feb. 20, 2010

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Samford junior forward Savannah Hill scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 53-42 Southern Conference win at Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at the Ramsey Center.

"I was definitely pleased with our defensive effort today," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought we guarded well for 40 minutes. The inside play of Savannah Hill and Hannah Dawson was big for us as well."

Hill made 12-of-18 shots from the floor and she grabbed six rebounds. Following Hill for Samford, Hannah Dawson scored 13 points. Monica Maxwell scored eight points in the game, giving her 1,007 for her career, making her just the sixth player in program history to score at least 1,000 points in their Samford career.

Emily London played for the first time since suffering a knee injury against UNC Greensboro on Jan. 30. London scored three points in 30 minutes of action off the bench.

For Western Carolina, Caitlin Hollifield scored 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Jessica Jackson added nine points for the Catamounts.

The teams remained close through most of the first half. With Samford trailing, 9-6, the Bulldogs went on a 14-4 run to take a 20-13 lead with 4:44 to go in the first half after a layup by Dawson.

Western Carolina could get no closer than five points for the remainder of the half. Samford took a 26-19 lead into halftime.

Samford pushed its lead out to 12 points early in the second half at 36-24 with 14:32 to play after a three-pointer by Maxwell. Western Carolina scored the next five points to cut the lead to seven at 36-29 with 13:05 to go after a free throw by Hollifield.

Samford then scored the next five points to make the score 41-29 with 10:22 to go after a three-pointer by Hill. WCU then cut the lead to six at 41-35 with 7:12 to go in the game after a three-pointer by Jackson.

Samford then went on an 8-0 run to take a 49-35 lead with 5:27 left after a three-point play by Dawson. Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 15 at 53-38 with 3:09 to go. The Bulldogs came away with the 53-42 win.

With the win, Samford improves to 20-8 overall and 14-5 in Southern Conference play. Western Carolina drops to 6-21 overall and 5-13 in league play.

Samford will conclude its regular season with a game at league-leading Chattanooga on Feb. 27. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start.