Box Score MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Samford women's basketball team dropped a heart-breaking, 44-40 overtime decision at Alabama State Wednesday evening in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
 
With the loss, Samford drops to 2-5 on the season. Alabama State improves to 4-1 with the win.
 
"A couple of things that stand out are we didn't execute at times and we made some mistakes in terms of where we're going and what we're doing," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "The biggest issue, and we talked about this with the team is, we can't put the ball in the goal. I think a big part of that is we have to get tougher and our confidence has to get better."
 
As a team in the loss, Samford made just 30.8 percent of its shots overall and just 18.2 percent from three-point range. The Bulldogs also made 63.6 percent (14-of-22) from the free-throw line.
 
Individually for Samford, Ellen Riggins scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Christy Robinson scored seven points, while Krista Stricklin led all rebounders with 13 boards in the contest.
 
For Alabama State, Nakiya Smith scored 12 points, while Taila Arrington added 10 points. Quentori Alford had nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds for the Lady Hornets.
 
After Alabama State made the first basket of the game, Samford went on an 8-2 run to take an 8-4 lead with 13:39 to go in the first half after a free throw by Stricklin. Alabama State fought back to cut the lead to two points at 10-8 with 10:13 left in the opening half.
 
Samford opened up a five-point lead at 13-8 and 15-10 late in the second half. With Samford leading, 17-15, Shelby Campbell hit a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer to send Samford to halftime with a 20-15 advantage.
 
Alabama State scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 22-20 lead with 13:02 to go after a three-pointer by Brittany Howard. After a layup by Robinson tied the game at 22-22, ASU scored six of the next seven points to take a 28-23 lead with 7:30 remaining after a layup by Alford.
 
Samford trailed for most of the rest of the second half. With ASU leading, 35-31, a pair of free throws by Riggins made it a two-point game at 35-33 with 1:24 to go. Hannah Nichols hit a layup with 17 seconds left to tie the score at 35-35. A last shot by Alabama State just missed and the teams headed to overtime knotted at 35-35.
 
Alabama State took an early 38-35 lead, but Samford cut the lead to one on a pair of Brittany Stevens free throws at 38-37 with 3:29 to go. ASU scored the next five points to push its lead to six points at 43-37 with 2:06 to go. Samford fought back to cut the lead to three at 43-40, but a late free throw by ASU made the final score 44-40.
 
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Bulldogs play host to Mercer. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.