Women's Basketball Hosts Samford Saturday
1/6/2012 8:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Basketball team puts their three-game win streak on the line Saturday against the Samford Bulldogs. The Lady Eagles continue a three-game Southern Conference homestand against the conference's best three-point shooting team. Tip-off at Hanner Fieldhouse is set for 3 p.m. and is the finale of the Dollar Days promotion. Tickets are just one dollar each, and the first 50 fans will receive a free Chick-fil-A sandwich.
"If you don't win at home this time of the year, you are in trouble," said Head Coach Rusty Cram. "You have to win at home and then try and grab a few on the road to get a good seed in the conference tournament. Our kids seemed to be focused on that these last few ball games."
After a 72-48 loss at Davidson, Georgia Southern (5-8, 1-3) ran off three-straight victories at home behind Meredyth Frye (Fredricksburg, Va.) and Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.), who both averaged over 10 points a game during the win streak.
"Sam is an experienced veteran. She has started off and on for the last two or three years," stated Cram about his senior guard. "She turned a corner the week before the Davidson game and started working harder. It has certainly showed up in her play. The team has seemed to find a little chemistry right now, and it enables one or two others to bring some energy off the bench."
In those three games the team has upped its scoring average to 61 points per game and cut down on its turnovers by nearly six a game. Frye leads the the Lady Eagles, who rank second in the SoCon with a 35.1 three-point percentage, in both points (10.4) and rebounds (5.0).
Samford (6-6, 1-2) is coming off of a pair of losses to SEC foes #8 Kentucky and Florida but was on a two-game win streak before facing the tough competition. The Bulldogs' last foray into conference play was a 64-61 overtime victory against Western Carolina. The reigning Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week, Paige Anderson paces Samford with 13.4 points per game and leads the team with 21 made treys and 54 made free throws.
"Mike [Morris] has done a tremendous job with them. They run the Princeton offense to perfection and you better be prepared to work 40 minutes in a physical ball game. If you stop one thing they have an automatic look at something else," said Cram. "You just have to constantly play the mental as well as the physical game with them."
Georgia Southern earned their only win in the short six-game series between the two teams last year. Samford holds a 5-1 advantage after a 62-55 win on January 31, 2011 in Birmingham. Upon joining the league, the Bulldogs got off to a four-game win streak in the series before the Lady Eagles knocked off Samford 67-66 a year ago.
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