Jan. 11, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford senior guard Emily London scored 26 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 66-46 Southern Conference win over UNC Greensboro Tuesday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.

"We played as quality a 40 minutes as we have played all year," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I think offensively and defensively, we had a great approach and this was a good response after a tough loss at home against Elon on Saturday."

With the win, Samford moves into a first-place tie with UNC Greensboro, both at 5-2 in SoCon play. Samford is 12-4 overall, while UNCG falls to 8-7 overall.

London made 9-of-11shots from the floor, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. She also made all three of her free-throw attempts and dished out two assists.

"We came out with a little more confidence today," London said. "We were able to regroup and we came out playing as a team, and that is what is most important."

Behind London for Samford, freshman guard Shelby Campbell scored eight points, grabbed a career-high six rebounds and tied a career high with four assists. Junior guard Paige Anderson also scored eight points for the Bulldogs.

For UNC Greensboro, Kendra Smith scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds. Monique Floyd and Dayshaun Richbow added seven points apiece for the Spartans.

Samford jumped out to a big lead early, racing out to a 20-5 advantage with 12:29 to go in the first half after a layup by Ruth Ketcham. Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 19 at 26-7 with 9:07 to go in the half following a three-pointer by Anderson.

UNC Greensboro fought back to cut the Samford lead to 12 at 31-19 with 2:32 to go in the first half after a layup by Sidnei Harmon. Samford took a 34-21 lead into halftime.

Samford scored seven of the first nine points of the second half to push its lead to 18 at 41-23 with 14:35 to go after a pair of free throws by London. The Spartans scored the next five points to cut the Samford lead to 13 at 41-28 with 12:24 left in the game.

Samford answered with a 7-0 run to push its lead to 20 points at 48-28 with 10:06 to go after a layup by Brittany Jack. UNCG then went on a 13-3 run to pull to within 10 points at 51-41 with 6:50 to go in the game after a layup by Richbow. Samford then closed the game with a 15-5 run to make the final score 66-46.

As a team, Samford shot 45.5 percent overall and 55.0 percent from three-point range. UNCG shot 30.4 percent overall and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc. Samford outrebounded UNC Greensboro, 37-34, in Tuesday's game.

Samford will return to action on Friday, Jan. 14, when the Bulldogs play at Appalachian State. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. Central Time start from Boone, N.C. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.