March 7, 2010

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Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The second-seeded Samford University women's basketball team advanced to the first Southern Conference Tournament championship game in the program's history with a 66-53 win over third-seeded Appalachian State in the SoCon semifinals Sunday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Arena.

"I was very pleased with our effort," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We beat a very good team today. I thought our team defended very well and hit some big threes down the stretch. In terms of defense, I thought this was one of the most complete games we've played this year. We'll see if we have one more in us."

Samford (22-9) advances to the finals to take on top-seeded Chattanooga (23-8). Chattanooga advanced to the championship game with a 60-49 win over fifth-seeded Georgia Southern earlier in the day. The game will be a rematch of Samford's 92-62 loss at Chattanooga to end the regular season on Feb. 27.

The win over Appalachian State on Sunday assures Samford of the first national postseason bid in the 13-year history of the program. The winner of Monday's game advances to the NCAA Tournament, while the loser earns a bid to the WNIT.

Samford was led in scoring by Monica Maxwell with 17 points, making 4-of-5 attempts from three-point range. Emily London scored 16 points, while Alex Crow added 10 points. Savannah Hill scored seven points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

For Appalachian State, Chakeitha Weldon scored 21 points. Anna Freeman added 12 points, while Catherine Williams had six points and 11 rebounds for the Mountaineers.

Appalachian State jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with 16:27 to go in the first half. Samford came back with a 12-2 run to take a 12-9 lead with 12:05 to go after a three-pointer by London.

With Samford leading 12-11, the Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run to push their lead to 25-13 with 4:43 to go in the half after another three-pointer by London. Samford led by as much as 14 in the first half at 29-15 with 3:24 to go in the half after a basket by J'Quita Babineuax. Samford took a 32-23 lead into halftime.

Samford pushed its lead out to 16 at 45-29 with 14:20 to go after a three-pointer by Hill. ASU fought back to cut the lead to 11 at 48-37 with 9:25 to go in the game.

With Samford leading, 52-42, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to push their lead to 17 at 59-42 with 4:30 to go after a pair of free throws by Maxwell. ASU answered with a 9-3 run to cut the lead back to 11 at 62-51 with 1:39 left in the contest. Samford scored four of the last six points of the contest to make the final score 66-53.

As a team, Samford made 11-of-25 (44.0%) attempts from three-point range, while holding the Mountaineers to 0-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Samford made 19 field goals in the game with 18 of those coming off assists.

Monday's championship game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. (CST) start. The game will be televised live on SportSouth. The game can also be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.