March 4, 2012

Box Score

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Samford sophomore guard Shelby Campbell scored a career-high 24 points to lead the fourth-seeded Bulldog women's basketball team to a 62-51 win over top-seeded Davidson in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Arena.

The win improves Samford's record to 19-12, and advances the Bulldogs to the SoCon Tournament finals for the third year in a row. Davidson is eliminated from the tournament, and the Wildcats' season record drops to 22-9.

Samford will take on the winner of the game between Appalachian State and Chattanooga in the championship game Monday at 4 p.m. (CT).

"I have been very pleased with our team, so far, with how we have played in the tournament," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We knew it was going to be an up-hill battle, Davidson beat us at our place earlier this week. I was pleased with the way we started the game and executed."

Campbell made 8-of-10 shots from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point range. Behind Campbell for Samford, senior guard Ruth Ketcham scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior guard Paige Anderson added eight points in the win.

Davidson was led in scoring by Laura Murray with 18 points. Sophia Aleksandravicius scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Amanada Ottaway had seven points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.

In the first half, after Samford made the first basket of the game, Davidson scored the next six points to take a 6-2 lead with 14:57 to go in the opening half. Samford, however took control of the game with a 24-6 run to take a 26-12 lead with 2:55 to go following a basket by Hannah Dawson.

Samford pushed its lead out to 19 points at 34-15 with less than a minute to play in the first half after a three-pointer by Ketcham. After a Davidson free throw made the score 34-16, a basket by Campbell with two seconds to go sent Samford into halftime with a 20-point lead at 36-16.

Davidson opened the second half with a 15-2 run to cut the Samford lead to seven points at 38-31 with 12:08 to go in the game after a three-point play by Aleksandravicius. Samford responded by scoring nine of the next 12 points to push its lead back out to 15 points at 49-34 with 7:50 to go after a three-pointer by Campbell.

Davidson fought back to cut the Samford lead to eight points at 49-41 with 4:06 to play on a three-point play by Murray. Samford scored the next five points to push the lead back out to 13 at 54-41 with 2:49 to go after a pair of free throws by Dawson.

The Wildcats could get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 62-51 win.

For the game, Samford made 40.0 percent of its shots overall and 35.0 percent from three-point range. Davidson made just 27.4 percent overall and 9.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Monday's championship game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and the Southern Conference Sports Network. The game can also be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Fans can also follow the game online via Live Stats and the following link: Tournament Live Stats