BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford women's basketball team earned a hard-fought 57-52 win over USC Upstate Thursday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 5-2 on the young season. USC Upstate fell to 3-6 with the loss.
 
"We jumped out to a great lead, I thought we had a great first quarter," Samford head coach Carley Kuhns said. "But honestly, we've had great first quarters in pretty much every game, it's been the second and third quarters where we've hit some lulls, but we had built enough of a cushion. I thought we shot the ball better, we had four players in double figures, which is great to see. We had scoring across the board."
 
Samford was led in the win by Masyn Marchbanks with 16 points and seven rebounds. Carly Heidger and Sadie Stetson had 12 points each, while Emily Bowman added 11 points and eight rebounds.
 
For USC Upstate, Trinity Johnson had 15 points and seven assists. Rebekah Gordon added 14 points for the Spartans.
 
Samford got off to a hot start taking a 20-7 lead with 1:31 left in the first quarter after a three-pointer by Stetson. The Bulldogs held a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 16 points at 25-9 with 9:05 left in the second period following another three-pointer by Stetson. USC Upstate cut the lead to 11 points at 26-15 with 2:38 left in the quarter after a turnaround jumper by Johnson. Samford led, 31-21, heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
In the third quarter, the Spartans cut the lead to seven points at 34-27 with 6:53 left in the period after a layup by Gordon. Samford pushed the lead back out to 13 points at 42-29 with 3:29 to go in the quarter following a jumper by Marchbanks. USC Upstate closed the quarter with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 44-39 at the end of the period.
 
Samford pushed its lead to six points at 46-40 with 7:48 left in the game after a layup by Kennedy Langham. USC Upstate then cut the lead to three points at 46-43 on a three-pointer by A.C. Markham with 5:39 to play. The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes until Samford was able to push its lead back to seven at 57-50 in the final minute and the Bulldogs held on for the 57-52 win.
 
Samford will play host to Jacksonville State on Sunday, Dec. 3. The game is set for a 1 p.m. start from the Pete Hanna Center.




 
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