Jan. 23, 2012

Box Score

BOONE, N.C. - The Samford women's basketball team's second-half rally fell just short in a 53-49 Southern Conference loss at Appalachian State Monday evening at the Holmes Center.

In the second half, Samford trailed by as much as 16 points. The Bulldogs, however, closed to within two points with less than a minute to play, but the Mountaineers were able to hold on for the four-point win.

"I was definitely pleased with the way we responded and kept fighting," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "Again, we were back on our heels. We didn't deliver the first punch and that got us in the hole. I think we lost the game in the first half and probably early in the second half when we didn't deliver the first blow."

Samford was led in the game by junior forward Hannah Dawson with 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Jazmine Powers scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds. Junior guard Jazmine Martin scored eight points off the bench.

For Appalachian State, Maryah Sydnor led all scorers with 20 points, and she pulled down seven rebounds. Kelsey Sharkey grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.

The teams traded baskets early in the first half. With the score tied at 4-4, Appalachian State scored the next six points to take a 10-4 lead with 13:31 to play in the first half after a basket by Canesha Edwards. Samford fought back to cut the ASU lead to two points at 10-8 with 10:47 left in the half after a layup by Paige Anderson.

Appalachian State then went on a 10-2 run to push its lead out to 10 points at 20-10 with 5:30 to go in the first half after a basket by Sydnor. Samford scored the next six points to close to within four points at 20-16 with 3:52 left in the half after a three-pointer by Martin. ASU, however scored the final six points in the half to take a 26-16 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Appalachian State pushed its lead out to 15 points at 37-22 with 14:49 left in the game after a jumper by Katie Mallow. Samford fought back to cut the lead to 10 points at 39-29 with 10:59 to go after a three-pointer by Martin.

Appalachian State, however, scored the next six points to push its lead out to a game-high 16 points at 45-29 with 8:36 to go after a layup by Sydnor. Samford then went on a 7-1 run of its own to pull to within 10 points at 46-36 with 4:35 to go after a layup by Dawson.

With ASU leading, 50-36, Samford's Powers hit three-straight baskets to make the score 50-42 with 1:41 to go. After an ASU free throw made the score 51-42, two free throws by Dawson, a three-pointer by Taylor Reece and two more free throws by Anderson completed a 13-1 Samford run to cut the lead to two points at 51-49 with 37 seconds to go.

After Appalachian State's Raven Gary missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 30 seconds to go, Samford was unable to score on its end. Sydnor then sealed the win for the Mountaineers with two late free throws to make the final score 53-49.

For the game, Samford made 32.7 percent of its shots overall and 20.0 percent of its attempts from three-point range. Appalachian State shot 42.6 percent overall and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Appalachian State outrebounded Samford, 35-32. Samford committed 19 turnovers in the game, while ASU turned the ball over 22 times.

The Bulldogs fall to 11-8 overall and 6-4 in SoCon play with the loss. The Mountaineers improve to 14-3 overall and 8-1 in league play.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 28, when the Bulldogs play host to Elon. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.