Jan. 24, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team claimed a 60-48 Southern Conference win over the Western Carolina Catamounts Monday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.

With the win, Samford improves to 14-6 overall and 7-4 in SoCon games. Western Carolina drops to 6-13 overall and 4-6 in league play.

Samford built a 21-point lead, but saw that lead cut to just five points late in the game. The Bulldogs, however, were able to pull away for the 12-point win.

"I thought the first 25 or 26 minutes of the game were very good," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought our energy was very good and our offense and defense were clicking. I thought we did a great job.

"I was definitely disappointed in that stretch of 10 to 15 minutes in the second half where we got casual," Morris said. "I thought we relaxed offensively and defensively and we turned the ball over. I want to credit our team, because in the last two or three minutes we got some key stops and made some big free throws down the stretch to pull it back out to 12 points."

Samford was led offensively by Emily London with 18 points. Hannah Dawson had 14 points and six rebounds. Dawson made 8-of-8 attempts from the free-throw line. Shelby Campbell added 13 points for the Bulldogs. Ruth Ketcham led the team in rebounding with seven.

Western Carolina was led by Kaila'Shea Menendez with 16 points and five rebounds. Emily Clarke added 13 points for the Catamounts.

Samford jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five points of the contest. Western Carolina came back to tie the score at 5-5 with 15:49 to go in the first half. Samford then went on an 18-3 run to push its lead out to 23-8 with 8:37 to go in the half after a jumper by Campbell.

With Samford leading, 26-13, the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to take a 21-point lead at 34-13 with 2:09 to go in the opening half. Samford took a 37-18 lead into halftime.

Samford pushed its lead back out to 21 early in the second half at 42-21 with 16:24 left in the game after a three-pointer by Dawson. Western Carolina fought back to cut the lead to 15 at 42-27 with 14:00 to go in the game. Samford then pushed the lead back out to 19 at 46-27 with 12:06 to go.

With Samford leading, 48-29, Western Carolina went on an 18-4 run to cut the lead to five at 52-47 with 2:14 to go in the game. Six free throws down the stretch by Dawson, as well as one each from Ketcham and Campbell allowed Samford to pull away for the 60-48 win.

As a team, Samford shot 40.5 percent overall and 44.4 percent from three-point range. WCU made 34.6 percent of its shots and 23.5 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc. Samford made 18-of-20 attempts from the free-throw line.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 29, when the Bulldogs play host to the College of Charleston. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.