BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Samford junior center
Taylor Reece scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 76-65 Southern Conference win over Furman Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.
"I was definitely pleased with our team in terms of the way we started the game," Samford head coach
Mike Morris said. "Furman came in here and played well. They are a good team and I thought we had a great aggressiveness from an offensive standpoint."
Samford forced Furman into 17 turnovers, while committing just nine of its own. Samford dished out 19 assists as a team in the win as well.
"Taking care of the basketball is big for us," Morris said. "A big part of that is Lydia (McGee) and Brittany (Stevens) being at full strength. When we don't turn the ball over, we have a really good shot of being an effective team, particularly offensively."
Reece made 11-of-16 shots from the floor, including 5-of-5 from three-point range.
Lydia McGee scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Brittany Stevens scored a career-high 11 points and dished out four assists.
Hannah Nichols scored nine points, while
Ellen Riggins added six points.
Destiney Elliott led all rebounders with nine.
"Taylor did a great job, and that is what she is capable of doing" Morris said. "She has worked on her game and gotten better and better. I thought
Lydia McGee did a great job of scoring around the goal in different ways. Lydia and Destiney getting to the rim was big.
Ellen Riggins came in and made two threes as well. This was really a good team effort."
For Furman, Whitney Bunn scored 21 points. Brittany Hodges scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Holli Wilkins added 10 points.
The teams traded baskets early in the first half until Samford was able to take a six-point lead at 17-11 with 14:53 left in the first half after a layup by Elliott. Furman scored the next five points to close to within one point at 17-16 with 12:29 left in the half following a three-pointer by Allison Beasley.
Samford then went on a 10-2 run to take a nine-point lead at 27-18 with 8:41 left in the half after a three-pointer by Riggins. Furman fought back to cut the lead to two points at 29-27 with 6:21 left in the game after a three-pointer by Wilkins. Samford scored the final 10 points of the first half to take a 39-27 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Furman scored the first eight points of the second half to cut the lead to four points and 39-35 with 17:56 left in the game after a jumper by Bunn. Samford answered with a 10-1 run to take a 49-36 lead with 15:57 left after a pair of free throws by Nichols. Furman fought back to cut the lead to eight points at 56-48 with 9:33 left after a three-point play by Savonia Bryan.
Samford then went on a 10-3 run to take a 15-point lead at 66-51 with 4:59 left in the game after a layup by Nichols. The Bulldogs led by as much as 16 points at 72-56 with 2:44 left after a three-pointer by Reece. Furman could get no closer than the final margin of 11 points as Samford came away with the 76-65 win.
As a team, Samford shot 56.9 percent overall and 47.1 percent from three-point range. Furman made 51.1 percent of its shots overall and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. Each team finished the game with 25 rebounds.
With the win, Samford improves to 10-8 overall and 3-0 in SoCon play. This marks the first time Samford has started conference play 3-0 since the 2005-06 season when Samford was in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Bulldogs are now 7-0 in home games so far this season, and the team has won four-straight games overall. Furman falls to 11-8 overall and 0-3 in conference games.
Samford will return to action on Monday, Jan. 19, when the Bulldogs play host to Western Carolina. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.
