BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford women's basketball team used a strong second half to pull away from UAB for a 70-41 win over the Blazers in the second-annual Red Mountain Rivalry game Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"This was a great team effort," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "When we can guard as well as we did today, we are not as antsy and not as pressured on offense to score. I think how well we played defensively really freed us up from an offensive standpoint."
 
Samford led by five points at halftime, 30-25, but the Bulldogs outscored the Blazers, 40-16 in the second half to pull away for the win. Morris said he liked how his team played coming off a tough loss at Troy Wednesday evening.
 
"I was very pleased with how we responded," Morris said. "This was a great team effort. We've played well at home, and now the challenge is to take this kind of effort and production when we play on the road."
 
Samford was led in scoring in the game by Hannah Nichols with 19 points. Destiney Elliott followed with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Taylor Reece and Krista Stricklin added 10 points each for the Bulldogs.
 
For UAB, Miranda Burroughs led the way with eight points. Janeka Williams and Chelsee Black scored seven points each for the Blazers.
 
The game was tight through most of the first half, with neither team able to grab more than a four-point lead for most of the half. With the game tied at 19-19, Samford went on a 9-2 run to take a 28-21 lead with 1:38 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Nichols.
 
UAB fought back to cut the lead to just three points at 28-25 with 23 seconds left before halftime after a pair of free throws by Black. A late layup by Nichols gave Samford a five-point advantage at 30-25, heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
The teams traded baskets to open the second half until, with Samford leading, 36-29, the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to push their lead out to 15 points at 44-29 with 11:18 to go after a three-pointer by Kassidy Blevins. UAB came back to cut the Samford lead to 10 points at 46-36 with 9:01 to go after a pair of free throws by T'erra Lewis.
 
Samford then took complete control of the game by going on a 17-1 run to push its lead to 26 points at 63-37 with 2:49 left in the game after two free throws by Elliott. The Blazers could get no closer than 24 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 29-point win, 70-41.
 
As a team, Samford shot 45.3 percent overall and 57.1 percent from three-point range. UAB hit just 27.1 percent of its shots overall and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. Samford made all 14 of its free-throw attempts, and UAB was 11-of-16 from the charity stripe.
 
Samford won the rebounding battle in the game, 38-29. Samford committed just eight turnovers in the win, while UAB had 10 turnovers.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 5-3 on the young season. UAB falls to 4-3 with the loss.
 
Samford will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 14, when the Bulldogs play at Auburn. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from Auburn Arena.