BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford freshman guard Kennedy Langham scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to a 66-60 SoCon road win at Furman Thursday night at Timmons Arena.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 11-9 overall and 3-2 in Southern Conference play. Furman fell to 11-9 overall and 1-3 in SoCon action.
 
"It was huge, obviously, any win in conference in a big win, especially on the road," Samford head coach Carley Kuhns said. "I'm really proud of this team. We haven't won many games on the road, so we really challenged them this game to play differently, to play with a chip on their shoulder and to find a way and to play tough. I thought we got big stops down the stretch. Different people stepped up when we needed them to and just overall, I'm really proud of our team for finding a way to get a win."
 
Langham made a career-high 9-of-17 shots from the floor in accumulating her career high in points. Behind Langham for Samford, Sadie Stetson scored 12 points. Carly Heidger and Emily Bowman grabbed seven rebounds apiece. Bowman also tied a career high with six blocked shots.
 
For Furman, Niveya Henley scored 13 points to lead the Paladins. Sydney Ryan added 11 points for Furman. Jada Session tallied nine points and 10 rebounds for the Paladins.
 
Furman grabbed an early 4-2 lead with 6:48 to go in the first quarter after a jumper by Tate Walters. With Furman leading, 7-5, Samford went on an 8-0 run to take a 13-7 lead with 48 seconds left in the opening period after a jumper by Alonya Waldon. Samford held a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
After Samford pushed its lead to 17-10, Furman scored the next six points to cut the lead to one point at 17-16 with 8:30 to go in the second quarter after a three-pointer by Sydney James. Back-to-back three-pointers by Samford's Stetson pushed the lead back to seven at 23-16 with 7:43 left before halftime. Samford led by as many as eight points down the stretch in the second quarter and the Bulldogs held a 29-24 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
Furman cut the lead to one point at 29-28 early in the third quarter. Samford then pushed the lead back out to seven points at 39-32 with 6:52 left in the third period following a three-pointer by Stetson. Furman cut the lead to 41-38 with 2:37 to go in the quarter, but Samford scored the final six points of the third quarter and the Bulldogs took a 47-38 lead into the final period.
 
In the fourth quarter, Samford pushed its lead out to 14 points at 55-41 with 6:24 to go after a jumper by Heidger. With Samford leading, 60-49, Furman fought back to cut the lead to four points at 62-58 with 28 seconds left on three free throws by Ryan. Samford's Langham, however, made four key free throws down the stretch to help Samford hold on for the 66-60 win.
 
Samford will next play at Wofford on Saturday, Jan. 27. The game is set for a 2 p.m. (CT) start from Spartanburg. S.C.




 
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