Feb. 14, 2011

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Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Emily London scored 19 points and Savannah Hill scored 16 points, both playing their final regular-season game in the Pete Hanna Center, to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 58-47 Southern Conference win over Davidson Monday evening.

The game was Samford's Pink Zone game to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness. Samford raised over $3,000 during the game with the proceeds going to the Kay Yow Foundation. The game was played in front of 1,158 fans, the second-largest crowd for a women's game in Pete Hanna Center history.

"I was very pleased with our defensive effort in holding them to 47 points," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "Everybody defended, we had great ball pressure. Mentally in terms of defense, we were all into it and I thought that was the key."

With the win, Samford improves to 20-7 overall, giving the Bulldogs 20 wins for the fourth-straight season and for the fifth time in the last six years. Samford remains in second place in the Southern Conference standings with a 13-5 league mark. Davidson drops to 11-15 overall and 6-11 in SoCon play.

London made 5-of-10 shots from the floor, while Hill was 7-of-13 for the game. Behind London and Hill, Paige Anderson scored nine points. Brittany Jack led the team in rebounding with seven.

Davidson was led by Sophia Aleksandravicius with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Laura Murray scored 12 points for the Wildcats.

Samford jumped out to an early eight-point lead at 13-5 with 15:11 to go in the first half after a layup by Ruth Ketcham. Davidson then went on a 13-4 run to take an 18-17 lead with 7:57 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Ashley Lax.

Samford then went on a 12-2 run to take a 29-20 lead with 2:24 left before halftime after a layup by Hill. Davidson scored the final four points of the first half to cut the Samford lead to 29-24 heading into halftime.

The teams traded baskets early in the second half until Samford was able to open up a 10-point lead at 43-33 with 13:46 to go in the game after a three-pointer by London. Davidson fought back to cut the lead to seven at 46-39 with 5:28 left in the game.

Samford then went on a 6-0 run to take a 13-point lead at 52-39 with 1:44 left in the game after a pair of free throws by Jazmine Powers. Davidson could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 58-47 win.

As a team, Samford made 41.3 percent of its shots, including 38.9 percent from three-point range. The Bulldogs held Davidson to 34.0 percent overall and 8.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 19, when the Bulldogs travel to Elon, N.C., to take on the Elon Phoenix. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. (CST) start and will be televised live on SportSouth.