March 4, 2011

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The second-seeded Samford women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament for the third year in a row with a 57-48 win over Western Carolina in the quarterfinal round Friday morning at McKenzie Arena.

With the win, Samford improves to 23-7, tying the school record for wins in a season. The Bulldogs advance to the Sunday's semifinal round. Samford will take on the winner of Saturday's game between No. 3 Chattanooga and No. 11 Wofford. Samford's semifinal game is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. (CST) start and will be televised live on SportSouth.

Samford used a 13-2 run late in the first half to pull ahead for good after trailing for most of the first half.

"Obviously, that was a key," Samford head coach Mike Morris said of the team's run. "You have to give a lot of credit to Western Carolina for the way they played for the first 15 minutes. I thought they were sharp and they made some good, tough shots. I think the biggest thing for us was the defensive stops we were able to get. We did a good job of executing and getting good shots."

Samford was led in the game by senior forward Savannah Hill with 17 points, making 8-of-13 shots from the floor. Senior guard Emily London scored 15 points, making all eight of her free-throw attempts. Jazmine Powers scored eight points, making all four of her field goal attempts. Powers also provided a spark on the defensive end for the Bulldogs.

For Western Carolina, Caitlin Hollifield scored 14 points. Kaila'Shea Menendez scored 12 points and Emily Clarke added 11 points for the Catamounts.

Western Carolina scored the first four points of the game, but Samford got on the scoreboard when Hannah Dawson hit a three-pointer with 18:00 to go in the first half to make the score 4-3. The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes until, with the game tied at 12-12, Western Carolina scored five-straight points to take a 17-12 lead with 10:06 to go in the first half.

Back-to-back baskets by Hill and Dawson pulled Samford to within one point at 17-16 with 9:02 left in the opening half. With Samford trailing, 21-19, the Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run to take a nine-point lead at 32-23 with 1:49 left in the game after a jumper by Hill.

Two late free throws by Menendez cut the Samford lead to 32-25 heading into halftime.

Western Carolina hit the first two baskets of the second half to cut the Samford lead to three points at 32-29 with 16:18 to go in the game after a jumper by Hollifield. Samford, however, went on an 8-0 run to push its lead out to 11 points at 40-29 with 10:04 to go after a layup by Shelby Campbell.

The Catamounts fought back to cut the lead to five points at 42-37 and 43-38. Samford pushed its lead back out to eight points at 50-42 with 2:04 left after a pair of free throws by London. London and Campbell both made key free throws down the stretch to help Samford come away with the 57-48 win.

As a team, Samford shot 47.7 percent from the floor, while holding Western Carolina to 33.3 percent. Western Carolina out-rebounded Samford, 35-26.

In addition to the SportSouth broadcast, Sunday afternoon's game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM-91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.