Nov. 30, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team hit a school-record 16 three-pointers in a 73-40 win over Jacksonville State Wednesday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.

The Bulldogs fell behind early, trailing by as much as eight points in the first half. Samford, however, outscored the Gamecocks 32-10 over the last 12 minutes of the first half to take a 14-point lead into the break on its way to the 33-point win.

"Jacksonville State came in and played well," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "They guarded us, they made shots and they executed. But I was very pleased with our team for the way we responded. We kept our composure, our leadership was very good, and we figured some things out and got better defensively. With the way the game started, for us to be up 14 at halftime is a credit to our players and their leadership."

Samford was led on the night by senior guard Jazmine Powers with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals. The points, rebounds and assists all tie career highs for Powers, and the six steals set a new career mark.

Paige Anderson led the team in scoring with 13 points, making 4-of-6 shots, all from three-point range. Taylor Reece and Ruth Ketcham added 11 points each for the Bulldogs. Shelby Campbell scored nine points and pulled down a career-high eight rebounds in the win.

For Jacksonville State, Briana Morrow scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Miranda Cantrell, Amanda McCarthy and Destiny Lane added eight points each for the Gamecocks.

Jacksonville State led for most of the first half, building a 19-11 lead with 12:54 left in the opening period. Samford scored the next eight points to tie the score at 19-19 with 10:48 left in the half after a three-pointer by Ketcham.

JSU built the lead back to five points at 27-22 with 7:05 left in the first half, but Samford answered with a 19-0 run to take a 41-27 lead. The Bulldogs took a 43-29 lead into halftime.

In the second half, after JSU cut the Samford lead to 11 at 45-34, the Bulldogs scored the next 15 points to push their lead to 60-34 with 9:16 left after a layup by Ketcham. Samford pushed its lead out to as much as 36 points in the second half at 73-37 with 2:30 to go in the contest.

Jacksonville State added the game's final three points on three free throws by Lane to make the final score 73-40.

The win was Samford's fifth-straight over JSU, and the Bulldogs have now won 10 of their last 11 meetings with the Gamecocks. With the win, Samford improves to 4-2 on the season, while Jacksonville State drops to 2-6 with the loss.

As a team, Samford shot 43.3 percent for the game, including a 53.3-percent effort from three-point range. The Bulldogs held JSU to just 26.0 percent shooting and 26.3 percent from beyond the arc. Samford outscored JSU 30-11 in the second half.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 3, when the Bulldogs open Southern Conference play at UNC Greensboro. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CT) start from Greensboro, N.C.