Lady Eagles Drop a Close One to Samford

STATESBORO, Ga. - Down two points in the final four minutes, the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles dropped a 53-47 decision after the Samford Bulldogs nailed 15 free throws in the final two minutes. Anna Claire Knight (Dublin, Ga.) notched a career-high 10 points, but the Eagles were held to 34% shooting and tallied just one trey in 14 attempts.

Samford's (7-6, 2-2) Paige Anderson led all scorers with 23 points and hit three of the team's six three pointers. Anderson was the only Bulldog in double figures. They shot just 38.1% after a 50% first half but went 15-for-18 from the charity stripe in the second period to put the win away. Samford also made the most of their eight steals, scoring 16 points off of turnovers.

Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) led Georgia Southern (5-9, 1-4) with 11 points. She also pulled down seven boards to go along with Janay Wilson's (Warner Robins, Ga.) game-high nine rebounds. The senior guard just missed out on a double-double with nine points to go along with nine boards and four assists. The Lady Eagles scored 16 points in the paint, added 16 more off of the bench but scored only five points off of turnovers.

Samford led 25-19 at the halftime break, connecting on 11-of-22 field goal attempts. Anderson tallied 12 of her points in the period after scoring the team's final seven points of the half. A trey from Taylor Reece gave the Bulldogs their largest lead in the period, 18-10, with 7:10 remaining. A jumper from Knight and a free throw from Wilson cut the lead to five points, but Anderson responded with a three pointer with 5:42 to play. Brittney Benzio (Palm City, Fla.) hit a jumper with 41 seconds to play, and Frye forced a turnover to end the half.

The two teams were even in the second period both scoring 28 points. Georgia Southern pulled within a basket multiple times in the period but was unable to take a lead in the second half. A missed free throw from MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) left the Lady Eagles one point shy of a tie, 37-36. Anderson responded with a trey to pull Samford ahead by four points. Down 40-38 with 1:48 to go, the Lady Eagles started fouling. The Bulldogs hit 15 shots from the charity stripe to pull away by six.

Georgia Southern returns to the court Monday against Chattanooga. The game time was moved to 5 p.m. from its original 7 p.m. earlier this week.

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Category: Women's Basketball

Published on Saturday, 07 January 2012 18:35