Samford 83, Elon 80
ELON, N.C. - Samford senior guard Emily London scored 33 points to lead the Bulldog women's basketball team to an 83-80 Southern Conference win at Elon Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
With the win, Samford improves to 21-7 overall and 14-5 in SoCon play. The Bulldogs secure the No. 2 seed in the SoCon Tournament, which is scheduled for Mar. 4-7 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Elon drops to 17-10 overall and 11-7 in league play.
London's 33 points is just two shy of her career high of 35, which is also the school record, achieved at Davidson in 2010. London made 10-of-14 shots from the floor and 6-of-7 from three-point range.
Behind London for Samford, Ruth Ketcham scored 17 points. Savannah Hill had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Shelby Campbell added nine points for the Bulldogs.
For Elon, Ali Ford scored 21 points. Aiesha Harper scored 20 points, while Kelsey Evans had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Lei Lei Hairston added 11 points for the Phoenix.
Samford jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with 17:54 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Brittany Jack. Elon fought back to take a 10-9 lead with 12:40 to go in the first half following a pair of free throws by Ford.
Samford then went on a 12-0 run to take a 21-10 lead with 7:29 left in the first half after a jumper by Hill. Elon scored the next five points to cut the lead to six at 21-15 with 5:41 left in the opening half after a three-point play by Ford.
The Bulldogs answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 14 points at 29-15 with 4:50 left in the first half after a three-pointer by London. Samford took a 35-23 lead into halftime.
Elon opened the second half with a 7-0 run to cut Samford's lead to five points at 35-30 with 18:43 left in the game after a three-pointer by Hairston. London answered with a three-pointer to push the Samford lead back out to eight at 38-30. Elon, however went on a 7-2 run to pull to within three points at 40-37 with 16:24 left in the game after a layup by Hairston.
Back-to-back baskets by Campbell pushed Samford's lead back out to seven points at 47-40 with 14:02 left in the contest. Elon then scored the next four points to make it a three-point game against 47-44 with 13:12 left in the game.
With Samford leading, 53-48, the Bulldogs went on a 7-2 run to push its lead back to double figures at 60-50 with 9:19 left in the game after a jumper by Jazmine Powers. With Samford leading, 66-57, Elon went on a 10-4 run to cut the lead to three points at 70-67 with 3:03 left in the game after a three-point play by Evans.
Samford pushed its lead back out to seven at 78-71 with 45 seconds to go after a pair of free throws by Hill. Elon, however, went on a 9-4 run to pull to within two points at 82-80 with seven seconds to go. Ketcham hit one-of-two free throws with six seconds left and a last-second three-pointer by Elon's Julie Taylor fell short to give Samford the 83-80 win.
As a team, Samford shot 55.1 percent from the floor, including a 64.7-percent effort from three-point range. Elon made 45.8 percent of its shots overall and 33.3 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc. Elon out-rebounded Samford, 36-22.
Samford will wrap up its regular season with a game at UNC Greensboro on Monday. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. (CST) start from UNCG's Fleming Gymnasium.
Davidson 60, Georgia Southern 46
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Laura Murray had her fifth 20-point game of the season with a game-high 23, Sophia Aleksandravicius set the school's all-time record for career blocks with a pair and Davidson snapped a four-game skid in taking a 60-46 home win over Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action.
Murray scored 13 of her 23 in the first half in leading Davidson (12-15, 7-11 SoCon) to a season-series split with the Eagles, who fell to 1-12 on the road (1-9 vs. the league). The Wildcats also halted their two-game losing streak in the all-time series.
The freshman guard was 7-of-9 from the field, including draining three of her four three-point attempts, and went 6-for-8 at the charity stripe. Davidson as a team missed just four of its 27 attempts for an 85.2 percent clip.
Aleksandravicius registered a season and career-high tying 16 rebounds to go along with 12 points for her seventh double-double of the year and 18th of her career. She had a career-best eight rebounds on the offensive side. Half of the sophomore's points came at the charity stripe as she ran her free throw consecutive streak to 13 straight.
In addition to her double-double, Aleksandravicius also set the all-time career blocks mark when with 3:23 left in the first half she blocked her 134th career shot to surpass Meghan Bryant, who finished her career with 133. She has already set the single-game (7 vs. North Texas) and single-season (85 and counting) records this year as a sophomore.
GSU (11-16, 8-10 SoCon) was led by Meredyth Frye's 12 points, while Jordi Cook came off the bench for nine points, all on three-pointers.
Leading 25-21 coming out of the halftime break, the Wildcats saw the Eagles score the first bucket of the half to close within two. That would be as close as GSU got as Davidson took control of the game with a 17-6 run over the next seven minutes, and it was capped off by back-to-back triples from Murray and Ashley Lax to give the Wildcats a commanding 42-29 lead with 12:13 left.
A pair of free throws by Murray with 7:33 left gave Davidson its biggest lead at 14 (47-33), and Lax would keep it at 14 a few minutes later on her second trey of the game for a 52-38 advantage. Lax finished with 12 points.
Both Murray and Lax sealed up the 14-point win by hitting two free throws each in the last minute and a half of the game.
It was a back-and-forth contest in the first half as there were 10 lead changes. Then tied at 21-all after a Lax jumper from the corner, Aleksandravicius netted the 'Cats' final four points of the half to give them a four-point advantage at the break.
Davidson continues its three-game homestand to close out the regular season when it hosts Furman on Monday at 7 p.m.
Appalachian State 74, Wofford 59
BOONE, N.C. -- Led by Anna Freeman's 24 points, Appalachian State clinched the Southern Conference regular season title with a 74-59 win over the Wofford Terriers Saturday afternoon in the Holmes Center.
Freeman went 10-of-18 from the floor for the Mountaineers and a perfect three of three from the free throw line. Sam Ramirez joined Freeman with 20 plus points as she added 22 points and six assists.
Wofford was led by April Moorhouse, who had 17 points and ten rebounds to earn her second consecutive double-double and third of her career. Moorhouse, was 6-of-14 from the field including a career-high three threes. Logan Morris added 11 points, while Mahagony Williams grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Rachel Brittenham tied a career-high with 11 assists, ten were in the first half. Brittenham, who leads the SoCon in assists, now has 132 assists this season pulling her within 16 assists of breaking Wofford's all-time assists in a single-season mark.
The Apps got off to a quick 6-0 lead a minute and a half into the game, but the Terriers battle back to tie the game at eight on an April Moorhouse three with 16:24 to play. The game was tied one more time at 12, before the Mountaineers broke open a 14-14 tie with a 6-0 run to take a 20-14 lead with 10:12 remaining.
The Terriers would again rally back in the and take a 23-22 lead on a Kelly Blake three with seven and a half minutes remaining. Neither team could pull away as the game saw three more ties, before the Mountaineers pulled out to a 43-36 lead with 34 seconds remaining in the half. Wofford would cut the lead to five, 43-38, on a Logan Morris basket before the buzzer.
Wofford shot 57 percent from the floor in the half and 66 percent from three, while App was 47 percent overall and 16 percent from long range. Wofford had 15 first half turnovers that led to 24 App State points in the half.
In the second half, The Terriers came out and cut the lead to three on a Mahagony Williams layup, but the Mountaineers would again pull away and take an eight point lead, 52-4, with 14:06 to play.
The lead would hit 12, 60-48, three minutes later, and would go as high as 18 points, 68-50, with just over five minutes to play. With the 74-59 win, App State improves to 22-4 overall and 16-2 in the SoCon, while Wofford falls to 7-19 overall and 3-15 in conference play.
The Terriers finished the game by going 36 percent from the floor and 36 percent from three, while the Mountaineers ended by going 42 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three.
Wofford finished with 29 turnovers that resulted in 39 App State points, while the Mountaineers only turned the ball over 16 times leading to seven Terrier points.
Wofford will return to the court Monday against Western Carolina in the BenJo for Senior Day. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wofford won the first meeting between the two schools 64-60 on February 9 at Western Carolina.
Chattanooga 65, UNCG 53
GREENSBORO, N.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defeated UNCG 65-53 and, coupled with a Samford win over Elon, moved into a tie with the Phoenix for third place in the Southern Conference standings.
The win moves the Lady Mocs to 14-13 overall and 11-7 in league play while the Spartans fall to 13-13 overall and 10-8 in the SoCon.
Chattanooga junior Whitney Hood was whistled for two quick fouls and spent the last 16:15 of the first half on the bench. Sophomore Capriee Tucker entered the game at the 13:21 mark and over the remainder of the period dropped in a career-high 12 points in the first half. She added another bucket in the second and closed out the game with 14 points and was 5-for-5 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
The Spartans weregot out to a 16-10 lead on scoring from six different players with 12:11 to play in the first half. Chattanooga pulled within two on baskets from freshman Taylor Hall and sophomore Kylie Lambert to cut the score to 16-14. Jazz Weaver hit a short jumper to put UNCG back up by four, but Tucker converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to cut the score to 18-17.
UNCG again stretched its lead on a jumper from Kendra Smith, playing for the first time since an injury sidelined her for two games, but it would be Tucker who would, yet again, get Chattanooga within a point, 20-19, with 9:53 until the break.
Junior Tenisha Townsend drained the first of her two 3-pointers to give Chattanooga its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 22-20, but the Spartans would once again pull ahead with five straight points to take a 25-22 advantage.
Tucker hit a layup to get within a point with 5:43 to go and followed with a pair of free throws just 39 seconds later to give UTC the lead. UNCG briefly reclaimed the lead before sophomore Kayla Christopher drained a 3-pointer to put the Lady Mocs up 29-27 and UTC would never trail again.
In the second half, Chattanooga used a 12-0 run to take command of the game and never let the Spartans within single digits the remainder of the game.
Hood stepped back into the lineup and went to work scoring eight of the 12 points and went on to score a game-high 18 points with two assists and two steals. She led four players in double figures with Tucker scoring 14, Townsend had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Christopher had 10 points on the day and dished out a game-best four assists. Hall posted her second straight double-digit rebounding game pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds and Bailey Dewart had eight to go along with her eight points.
Sarah Folwell was the only UNCG player in double figures with 10 points. Kendra Smith, Dayshaun Richbow and Jazz Weaver each had eight and Amanda Leigh put up seven points. Monique Floyd had a team-best six rebounds and Janae' Stevenson had four.
The Lady Mocs outrebounded the Spartans 35-29 and shot 53.3 percent (24-of-45) from the field. Chattanooga had a 26-22 advantage in the paint over UNCG while the Spartans converted 18 UTC miscues into 24 points.
The Lady Mocs will face Elon Monday night at Alumni Gym. The Phoenix fell by three to Samford this afternoon and are now tied with Chattanooga for the third spot in the league standings. The game will tip off at 7 p.m.
College of Charleston 49, Western Carolina 45
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Freshman Janae Smith turned in a double-double performance with a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to a 49-45 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday at Carolina First Arena.
Smith was joined in the scoring column by sophomore Cathryn Hardy, who had nine points, and senior Tonia Gerty, who added seven. It marked the Cougars' (10-18, 7-12) third consecutive win in Southern Conference play.
CofC led 27-15 at the end of the first half, but fell behind after the Catamounts (7-20, 5-13) tied the game at 30-all with 9:06 left in regulation.
Western Carolina held the lead until the momentum was reclaimed by the Cougars after Hardy knocked down a game-changing three-pointer to make the score, 43-41, with 1:23 left on the clock.
Gerty scored the next field goal followed by another two points by Smith, and a free throw by sophomore Megan Fischer. Smith scored the final point of the game from the charity stripe to seal the victory for the Cougars.
The Cougars will close out the regular season with Elon on Senior Day to be held on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m. (ET) at Carolina First Arena.