BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Samford women's basketball team earned a 69-46 win over East Tennessee State in the Bulldogs' final home game of the 2014-15 season Monday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.

With the win, Samford improves to 15-13 overall and 8-5 in Southern Conference play. Samford posted a record of 11-2 in home games this season. East Tennessee State falls to 19-9 overall and 11-2 in SoCon games.

"I was really pleased with our preparation," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "We have really good young women with good character. And when you have that, you can really challenge them in different ways and their character comes out in their work ethic and how they work through different things. I thought we did a great job of just taking care of the ball tonight. And then, when they made a run, we didn't fold, and I thought that was big at end of the first half."

For Samford in the win, Hannah Nichols scored 19 points. Taylor Reece scored 13 points, while Krista Stricklin and Amara Mayers added nine points each. Stricklin also led the team in rebounding, grabbing six boards. Destiney Elliott and Brittany Stevens shared the team lead in assists with four each.

East Tennessee State was led by Serena Clark with 13 points and seven rebounds. Destiny Mitchell, Tianna Tarter and Cara Bowling added six points each for the Buccaneers.

In the first half, ETSU jumped out to an early six-point lead at 8-2 with 14:32 left in the first half after a layup by Mitchell. Samford then went on a 20-4 run to take a 22-12 lead with 7:19 left in the first half following a three-pointer by Nichols. ETSU fought back to cut the lead to seven points at 22-15 with 5:29 to go in the first half.

With Samford leading, 24-15, ETSU scored eight-straight points to close to within one point at 24-23 with 1:46 left in the first half following a jumper by Shamauria Bridges. ETSU had the ball late in the half with a chance to take the lead, but Stricklin stole the ball for a break-away layup with six seconds to go to make the score 26-23. ETSU was called for an intentional foul on the play, and Stricklin made one of her two free throws. On the ensuing possession, Mayers hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Samford a 30-23 lead going into the locker room at halftime.

Samford opened the second half with a 17-4 run to open up a 20-point lead at 47-27 with 13:10 to go following a jumper by Reece. Samford pushed its lead out to 23 points at 56-33 with 9:47 left after a three-pointer by Nichols.

ETSU fought back to cut the lead to 19 points at 56-37 with 8:12 to go after a layup by Mitchell. Samford then went on a 10-3 run to make the score 66-40 with 2:22 to go following a pair of free throws by Mayers. ETSU could get no closer than 23 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 69-46 win.

As a team, Samford made 45.6 percent of its shots overall, while holding ETSU to just 38.6 percent. Samford made 35.3 percent of its attempts from three-point range, while ETSU was 0-for-11 from beyond the arc.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 28, when the Bulldogs travel to Macon, Ga., to take on the Mercer Bears. The game is scheduled for a 12 p.m. (CT) start, and it will be broadcast live on ESPN3.