Furman 87, Erskine College 53
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Kelly O'Connor scored 16 points to pace a contingent of five double figure scorers and Furman claimed its fourth consecutive victory with an 87-53 triumph over Erskine in women's basketball action Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.
O'Connor tallied all of her 16 points in the first half to help Furman (5-2) race to a 20-point halftime lead en route to the win, which gave the Paladins to their longest winning streak since the 2004-05 season.
Brooke Keeton tallied a season high 12 points, and Kendra Berry and Martha Robinson added 11 points apiece, with Robinson's total marking a season high. Raegan Thompson rounded out the double figure scoring contingent with 10 points.
Porsha Morgan scored a game high 17 points to lead Erskine (2-5).
Furman dominated the boards, posting a 64-33 advantage behind Kendra Berry's game high 13 caroms that gave her a third consecutive double-double. The Paladins shot 38.5 percent from the field (25x65) and fashioned an accurate performance at the free throw line, draining 31-of-38 opportunities (81.6 percent).
Erskine led 19-17 midway through the first half before a Raegan Thompson 3-pointer put Furman ahead and sparked a 28-6 run over the final 10 minutes to give the Paladins a 45-25 halftime advantage.
Furman continued its run to start the second half, getting eight points from Kendra Berry in a 10-0 spurt that made it 55-25 with 17:45 to go in the contest.
From that point Furman head coach Jackie Carson emptied her bench, with all 12 players in uniform registering at least 10 minutes of action.
The Paladins play at UNC Asheville on Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. game.
Samford 95, Berry College 59
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-The Samford women's basketball team shot 60 percent from three-point range and 54 percent overall on its way to a 95-59 win over the Berry College Vikings Tuesday evening in the Pete Hanna Center.
The Bulldogs set school records in three-pointers made, making 15-of-25 attempts, and in assists with 24 for the game. The 95 points are the most Samford has scored since scoring 100 points in a win over Centenary on Dec. 19, 1999. The school record for points in a game is 101, scored against Florida Atlantic on Jan. 9, 1999.
Thirteen Samford players saw action in the game, and all 13 players scored. The Bulldogs were led by Ruth Ketcham with 21 points, making 8-of-10 shots from the floor and 4-of-5 from three-point range. Emily London scored 17 points, while Shelby Campbell added a career-high 12 points.
"It was good to see everybody get into the game and respond," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "It was a great learning experience for our team and our individual players tonight. I was pleased with the way we approached this game."
Ketcham's 21 points were a season high and a Samford career high for the junior. She scored 26 points in a game against Colgate, while playing at Auburn during the 2007-08 season. Campbell, Jazmine Powers and J'Quita Babineaux shared the team lead in rebounding with five each. Savannah Hill led the team in assists with six.
Berry was led by Brittany Coughlan with 17 points. Erica Crumley scored 15 points, while Danielle Sisk added 10 points for the Vikings.
Samford opened the game by scoring the first 20 points of the contest. Hill, Ketcham and Hannah Dawson had five points each in the game-opening run, which concluded with a three-pointer by Ketcham with 15:09 to go in the first half to make the score 20-0.
Berry answered with a 24-9 run of its own to cut the lead to five at 29-24 with 8:03 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Maggie Trimble. Berry got as close as four points at 31-27, but Samford answered with a 9-0 run to push its lead back out to 13 at 40-27 with 4:37 to go after a layup by Ketcham.
Berry fought back to cut the lead to 10 at 41-31 with 2:41 to go after a layup by Sisk. Samford, however, scored the final six points of the half to take a 47-31 lead into halftime.
Samford scored the first eight points of the second half to push its lead out to 24 at 55-31 with 18:44 to go after a three-pointer by Paige Anderson. Berry then went on a 7-0 run to pull to within 17 at 55-38 with 16:22 to go after a three-pointer by Crumley.
The Bulldogs then went on a 28-5 run to push its lead out to a game-high 40 at 83-43 with 9:10 to go in the game following a layup by Babineaux. Berry could get no closer than 31 points the rest of the way as Samford came away with the 95-59 win.
The win was the fifth in a row for Samford and it improves the Bulldogs' record to 5-2 on the season. Berry drops to 2-4 with the loss.
Samford will be back in action on Sunday when the Bulldogs play host to the Clemson Tigers at 2 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center.
High Point 70, UNCG 60
GREENSBORO, N.C. - High Point put all five starters in double figures and shot a staggering 70.4 percent from the floor in the second half to blow past UNCG in nonconference women's basketball action on Tuesday, 79-60.
UNCG (2-5) trailed by just five at the half, but the Panthers (5-5) opened the second frame on an 11-0 run to blow the game open. High Point went 19-for-27 from the floor in the second period to make up for a cold-shooting first half.
Monique Floyd scored a team-high 15 for the Spartans, 10 of which came in the first half. Jazz Weaver continued her solid play of late with a career-high 11 points off the bench. Floyd also had a team-best seven rebounds as she flirted with a double-double.
Mackenzie Maier scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Panthers, while Frances Fields had 18, Jurica Hargraves and Shamia Brown had 12 and Amy Dodd finished with 11. Brown fell a rebound shy of a double-double with a game-high nine.
The Panthers led 32-27 at the half, but Maier capped HPU's 11-0 run to start the second frame with a 3-pointer and a jumper to make it 43-27 less than four minutes into the period.
HPU stretched its lead to 17, but UNCG clawed back into it with an 8-0 spurt punctuated by a Kendra Smith 3-pointer that made it 53-46 with just over 10 minutes to go.
Hargraves answered with a 3 of her own, however, putting the Panthers' lead back into double digits to stay.
HPU opened the contest hitting six of its first eight shots to open up a 13-6 lead and eventually stretched its lead to 10 at 18-8. The Spartans' offense finally started hitting on all cylinders after that, with an Amanda Leigh layup kicking off a 17-7 UNCG run to knot the score at 25.
Floyd and Weaver had four points each in the spurt, but Floyd's jumper that tied it with 4:49 to play in the first half was UNCG's last bucket in the frame. The Spartans didn't get a shot to fall for the first 3:35 of the second stanza, meaning UNCG had a field goal drought of 8:24 spanning halftime.
UNCG shot a respectable 43 percent in the second half, but it was no match for the Panthers' torrid shooting.
The Spartans finished 23-for-60 from the floor for the night (38.3 percent), while HPU was 32-for-62 on the night (51.6 percent).
UNCG returns to action Saturday when it will host another Big South Conference school in Radford. Opening tip is set for 2 p.m. at Fleming Gym.