Feb. 13, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford women's basketball team earned a 70-56 Southern Conference win over College of Charleston Monday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.

With the win, Samford improves to 15-9 overall and 10-5 in Southern Conference play. College of Charleston falls to 6-20 overall and 5-12 in league play.

"I was pleased with the way our team responded to their zone," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We got some good shots early and missed them, but we hung in there and found a way and, particularly in the first half, we really defended well. I thought defensively, overall we were solid, but we gave up way too many offensive rebounds."

Samford was led in scoring by senior guard Paige Anderson with 22 points. Sophomore guard Shelby Campbell scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. Freshman forward Taylor Reece added 11 points for Samford. Senior guard Jazmine Powers dished out a career-high 10 assists, to go along with her six points and seven rebounds.

Charleston was led by Latisha Harris with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Megan Fischer added 12 points for the Cougars.

In the first half, Samford took an early 8-3 lead with 16:07 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Reece. College of Charleston then fought back to cut the lead to one point at 8-7 with 13:41 to go in the half after a pair of free throws by Harris.

Samford then went on a 22-4 run to push its lead out to 19 points at 30-11 with 4:34 left in the opening period following a three-pointer by Campbell. Charleston answered with a 9-0 run to cut the lead back to 10 points at 30-20 with 2:22 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Fischer.

A pair of layups by Anderson pushed the lead back out to 14 points at 34-20, but Charleston scored the final four points of the half to make it a 10-point game at 34-24 heading into halftime.

In the second half, Samford pushed its lead back out to 17 points early in the half at 41-24 with 18:15 to go after a jumper by Hannah Dawson. With Samford leading, 47-31, the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to pull to within nine points at 47-38 with 11:10 to go after a three-pointer by Alyssa Frye.

College of Charleston cut the Samford lead to seven points at 50-43 with 9:15 to go after a layup by Harris. However, that was as close as Charleston could get, as Samford pushed its lead back out to 14 at 66-52 with 1:10 to go after a pair of free throws by Anderson. Samford came away with the 70-56 win.

For the game, Samford made 43.4 percent of its shots overall and 41.4 percent of its three-pointers. Charleston made 26.2 percent of its attempts overall and 22.2 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Charleston outrebounded Samford, 50-33, including a 23-6 advantage in offensive rebounds.

The game was Samford's Play4Kay game to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research. Overall, over $1,000 was raised for the Kay Yow Foundation. The exact total will not be known until t-shirt sales are completed later in the week. The Samford cheerleaders raised $365 via their Backflips for Breast Cancer promotion, with the cheerleaders completing 636 backflips at the game.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 18, when the Bulldogs play at Furman. The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. (CT) start from Greenville, S.C.