Jan. 6, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team used a strong second half to earn a 64-58 come-from-behind Southern Conference win over Furman Thursday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.

"In order to be a good team, you have to win games when you are struggling and maybe you're out of sync and you're not playing well offensively," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "Furman had a lot to do with that; they didn't let us play well. But our team found a way to win and that is the mark of a good team."

As a team, Samford shot 39.7 percent (33.3 percent in the first half and 45.2 percent in the second half). The Bulldogs forced Furman into 24 turnovers, while committing just nine turnovers, with only three of those coming in the second half.

"What I thought was consistent was that we defended," Morris said. "We forced them into 24 turnovers. There are going to be games when you don't shoot the ball well, but our defense was there tonight and bailed us out."

Samford was led in scoring by Emily London with 15 points. Ruth Ketcham had 13 points, while Savannah Hill added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Paige Anderson and Shelby Campbell contributed seven points each for the Bulldogs.

For Furman, Kendra Berry scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Lakyn Ledford scored nine points and Kelly O'Connor added eight points for the Paladins.

Furman got off to a fast start, scoring the first seven points of the game to take a 7-0 lead with 15:32 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by O'Connor. Samford then went on a 7-2 run to cut the Furman lead to two at 9-7 with 13:24 to go in the half after a jumper by Campbell.

The Paladins pushed their lead out to as much as eight in the first half at 19-11 and 21-13 late in the half. With Furman leading, 26-20, Samford scored the final four points of the half to cut the lead to 26-24 at halftime.

Samford opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead at 33-26 with 16:03 to go after a pair of free throws by Anderson. With Samford leading, 36-30, Furman went on a 12-5 run to take the lead again at 42-41 with 10:24 to go after a layup by Martha Robinson. Samford scored the next four points to take a 45-42 lead with 9:32 to go after a layup by Jazmine Martin.

Furman then went on a 12-3 run to take a 54-48 lead with 5:13 to go in the game after a three-pointer by Kaitlin Murphy. A layup by Hill and a three-pointer by Ketcham cut the lead to just one at 54-53 with 3:44 to go in the game. Furman then pushed its lead to 56-53 after a layup by Ayanna Randolph with 2:36 to go in the game.

Back-to-back three-pointers by London and Anderson gave Samford the lead for good at 59-56 with 1:28 to go in the game. A layup by Berry then cut the Samford lead to 59-58 with 58 seconds to go. A three-pointer by Campbell stretched Samford's lead to four at 62-58 with 35 seconds left. A pair of free throws by London with 12 seconds left made the final score 64-58.

With the win, Samford improves to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in SoCon play. The win was Samford's fourth in a row since returning from Christmas break. Furman dropped to 6-8 overall and 2-3 in league play with the loss.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 8, when the Bulldogs play host to Elon. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samfordsports.com.