BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford women's basketball team dropped an 80-69 decision to Wofford in Southern Conference action Thursday night at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 7-11 overall and 2-2 in SoCon play. Wofford improves to 8-9 overall and 3-0 in league action.
 
"I think this is obviously a really good basketball team," Samford head coach Carley Kuhns said. "Against really good teams you have to have minimal mistakes, because good basketball teams are going to make you pay on both ends of the floor. Every defensive rotation we missed, they made us pay, every offensive rebound, they made a lot of threes off that. And then our turnovers, you can't have 21 turnovers and give yourself a chance to win."
 
For Samford in the loss, Sussy Ngulefac nearly posted a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Andrea Cournoyer had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Natalie Armstrong had 10 points and nine rebounds, while Shauntai Battle also had 10 points for the Bulldogs.
 
For Wofford, Niyah Lutz led the way with 17 points and five rebounds. Reagan Rapert and Helen Matthews added 16 points each for the Terriers.
 
Wofford grabbed an early 6-2 lead with 7:09 to go in the first quarter after a three-pointer by Rapert. Samford scored the next five points to take a 7-6 lead with 6:37 left in the first period after a three-pointer by Battle. Wofford fought back to take a 15-11 lead at the 3:46 mark in the first period following a three-pointer by Matthews. Wofford held a 20-13 lead after the first quarter.
 
Wofford pushed its lead to 10 points at 23-13 with 9:24 left in the second quarter after a three-pointer by Lutz. Samford came back to cut the lead to three points at 26-23 with 6:30 to go in the second period after a layup by Sanaa Redmond. Wofford increased the lead back out to nine points at 32-23 with 4:55 to go in the quarter following a jumper by Matthews. Samford fought back to cut the lead to just five points at 38-33 at halftime.
 
Samford cut the Wofford lead to one point at 42-41 with 6:45 to go in the third quarter after a driving layup by Cournoyer. After Wofford took a 46-41 lead, Samford scored the next five points to tie the score at 46-46 on a layup by Ngulefac at the 4:25 mark in the third quarter. Samford took its first lead of the second half at 51-48 on a three-pointer by Mallory Hampton with 2:45 to go in the third period. Wofford came back to take a 56-55 lead at the end of the third quarter.
 
After Samford took a 57-56 lead early in the fourth quarter, Wofford went on a 5-0 run to take a 61-57 lead at the 8:52 mark after a three-pointer by Matthews. The Terriers extended their lead to seven points at 65-58 with 6:34 to go after a pair of free throws by Alexis Tomlin.  With Wofford leading, 66-63, the Terriers went on a 14-3 run to put the game away and take an 80-66 lead with 26 seconds left. A late three-pointer by Armstrong made the final score 80-69.
 
Samford will play host to Furman Saturday, Jan. 22. The game is set for a 2 p.m. start in the Pete Hanna Center. Admission is free for all home women's basketball games.




 
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