Samford 72, McNeese State 58
LAKE CHARLES, La. - The Samford women's basketball team used a strong second-half performance to earn a 72-58 win at McNeese State in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon.
"Any road win is a good win," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "McNeese State outplayed us and was tougher in the first half. It's a credit to our players that we came back and played a very good second half, especially offensively. It was a great team effort in the second half and our bench play was very productive."
Samford was led by Savannah Hill with 19 points. Emily London scored 15 points, while Hannah Dawson scored 14 points and Monica Maxwell added 10 points.
For McNeese State, Kiara Johnson led all players with 20 points. Kendra Wells added 11 points for the Cowgirls.
Samford trailed McNeese State, 27-26, heading into halftime, but the Bulldogs outscored the Cowgirls, 46-31 to earn the win.
Samford opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a 38-29 lead following a jumper by London with 16:46 to go in the game. MSU cut the lead to two at 41-39 with 12:02 to go in the game.
Samford scored the next six points to push its lead to eight at 47-39 with 10:26 to go after a layup by Dawson. McNeese State could get no closer than six points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 72-58 win.
As a team, Samford hit 47 percent of its shots from the floor, including 45 percent of its three-pointers. McNeese State made 35 percent of its field goals and 33 percent of its three-pointers.
Samford improves to 3-0 with the win. McNeese State is currently 1-2 on the season.
Samford will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 24, when the Bulldogs play at 20th-ranked Maryland. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from College Park, Md.
College of Charleston 62, Texas-San Antonio 45
Charleston, S.C. - Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) scored a career-high 23 points and 19 rebounds to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the 62-45 win over Texas San Antonio in front of 231 fans at the Carolina First Arena.
Charleston won its third straight to improve to 3-1, while UTSA fell to 2-2 on the year.
The Cougars only led by three, 35-32, with 17:25 remaining in the game, before a 13-4 run, led by Jones with seven of those points, increased the margin to 12, 48-36, with 9:40 to go.
A basket by Whitney York at 8:07 cut the Cougar lead to 10 (48-38) with 8:07 remaining but the Roadrunners were outscored 14-7 down the stretch and fell by the final of 62-45. Charleston held UTSA to just 19 points in the second half, while scoring 33.
CofC held UTSA to just 18.2 percent from the field in the second half, while shooting a blistering 54.2.
The Cougars outscored the Roadrunners 13-5 over the first nine minutes of the first half before UTSA posted six straight to cut the margin to two, 13-11, with 10:02 remaining before intermission. Charleston increased its lead to five on several occasions but could not get any further as UTSA kept answering and even took the lead twice, the last coming at the 3:25 mark off a layup by Valencia Cottom.
With the Roadrunners leading by four, 26-22 with 2:05 to go, Jones and Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) both nailed jumpers in a span of 35 seconds to tie the game at 26-26 with 1:08 left. After several missed shots, the Cougars ended up with control of the ball in the waning seconds and Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) nailed a three pointer as time expired to give CofC a 29-26 lead heading into the locker room.
Charleston dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring UTSA 20-10, and held the 38.2 -32.4 field goal percentage.
Following Jones with her 23 points was Gerty with 14 and Hughes with 11. UTSA was led by Amber Gregg with 20 points and Judy Jones with 13.
The Cougars shot 44.8 percent from the field for the game, compared to 25.4 for the Roadrunners. Charleston out-rebounded UTSA 51-39, while the Roadrunners had the 15-9 edge in turnovers.
Charleston next travels to Chicago Ill., to take part in the Doubletree White Invitational. The Cougars face Northwestern Friday, Nov. 27 at 6:30, before taking on Iowa State Saturday, Nov. 28, at 3 p.m. at the Welsh-Ryan Arena.
High Point 75, UNC Greensboro 63
HIGH POINT, N.C. - High Point forced 33 turnovers and used a 28-8 run midway through the second half to open up what had been a tight game as the Panthers held on to top UNC Greensboro on Saturday, 75-63.
Monique Floyd scored 13 points to lead UNCG (1-2), while Lakiah Hyson had 10 points for the Spartans. Shamia Brown scored a game-high 20 points to lead High Point (2-1).
A pair of Amanda Leigh free throws put UNCG on top 40-39 with 15:24 to play, but High Point was about to take control. The Panthers turned a one-point deficit into a 19-point lead over the next eight minutes, with Brown capping the run with consecutive baskets. Her layup off a Frances Fields' steal on UNCG's inbounds pass made it 67-48 with 7:04 to play. Brown had 10 of her 20 points in the run.
The Spartans refused to go away, though, clawing back to within nine points late in the game. Hyson hit a free throw and Sarah Folwell struck for a 3-pointer from the wing to make it 67-52 before TaShama Banner took over.
The junior from Bladenboro, N.C., had four steals, three offensive rebounds and four points as UNCG made it 69-60 with 3:27 to play. Freshman Brey Dorsett was also instrumental in the run, picking up a steal and hitting four straight free throws to end UNCG's 12-2 spurt.
Brown answered with four straight free throws of her own as High Point pushed its lead back into double digits to stay.
UNCG trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, but solid play from freshmen Amy Clapper and Dayshaun Richbow got the Spartans back in the game. After the Spartans fell behind 17-4 with 14:07 left in the first half, Clapper had all of her career-high eight points in a 23-10 run that evened the game at 27 with 6:07 before the break. The redshirt freshman from Newark, Ohio, showed off impressive range in the run, draining a pair of long-range jumpers.
Hyson capped the run in dramatic fashion, using a spin move in the backcourt to elude a High Point defender before racing in for a pull-up 3-pointer that knotted the score.
Richbow was also clutch in the spurt, getting two of her three first-half steals in the run. On back-to-back possessions, Richbow picked up a steal that led to a pair of Hyson free throws, then grabbed another steal that led to her own fastbreak layup.
The Spartans were plagued by turnovers from the get-go, surrendering the ball on their first five possessions as HPU raced out to an 8-0 lead. UNCG would get four points back quickly, however, taking advantage of consecutive Panther turnovers for an Agne Girstautaite layup and a Kendra Smith jumper to make it 8-4 with just under three minutes elapsed.
Despite its 33 turnovers, UNCG held the advantage in points off turnovers, scoring 29 off 26 High Point miscues. The Panthers scored 27 off the Spartans' turnovers.
High Point's big advantage came from its bench, which contributed 51 points to UNCG's 30.
The Panthers put four players in double figures for the game. In addition to Brown's 20 points, HPU got 13 from Jurica Hargraves, 12 from Amy Dodd and 11 from Erin Reynolds.
The Spartans held Mackenzie Maier, who entered the game leading High Point with 15 points per game, to just four points on four free throws. Maier was 0-for-9 from the floor.
UNCG returns to action on Wednesday when it will face No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
South Carolina State 59, Furman 54
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Sophilla Hipps netted a game high 23 points to lift South Carolina State to a 59-54 victory over visting Furman in women's basketball action Saturday evening.
The loss dropped Furman to 0-4 on the season while S.C. State improved to 2-1.
Hipps converted 7-of-19 shots from the field, including 2-of-5 3-pointers, along with all seven free throw attempts. She also claimed eight rebounds and added four assists and two steals. Paris Alston pulled down a game high 13 rebounds in the winning effort
Furman was paced by Susan Troutman with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and five blocks.
The Bulldogs shot 36.8 percent from the field (21x57) while Furman made just 19-of-62 shots (30.6 percent). S.C. State claimed a narrow 45-42 edge in rebounding
South Carolina State led 30-25 at intermission and maintained the advantge until midway through the second half when the Paladins used a 12-3 spurt to take a 40-41 lead on a 3-pointer by Kali Holtfreter with 9:25 go.
A tip-in by Hipps with 4:01 to go tied the game at 48-48, and less than 30 seconds later she delivered a pair of free throws to put S.C. ahead 50-48.
Joi Walker drained a pair of free throws at the 3:06 mark to make it 52-48, and later added a tip-in with 2:36 remaining to stretch the Bulldog lead to 54-48.
A Holtfreter 3-pointer on the ensuing possession cut S.C. State's lead to 54-51, and a foul shot by Lakyn Ledford with 1:27 left got Furman to within two points at 54-52.
S.C. State, however, secured the decision with five free throws, including four by Hipps, over the final 37 seconds.