Lady Eagles Unable to Overcome Scoring Drought
2/11/2012 10:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Georgia Southern Lady Eagles were unable to overcome a scoring drought of over 10 minutes in the first half and fell to the Samford Bulldogs 67-41. While GSU was not scoring, Samford ran off 19 unanswered points to take a 31-11 halftime lead. The Lady Eagles held with the Bulldogs in the second half but were unable to make a dent in the significant halftime lead.
"That is the way we have been playing. We have not been consistently scoring all year," said Head Coach Rusty Cram. "We don't have that one person who is going to step up and turn a corner for us."
Georgia Southern (7-17, 3-12) was held to their second lowest field goal percentage of the season and shot just 17.4% from behind the arc. Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) led the Lady Eagles with nine points, her most points scored in 10 games, and shot 50% from the floor. Anna Claire Knight (Dublin, Ga.) added seven points and tied for the team-high in rebounds with four.
Samford (14-9, 9-5) shot nearly 50% from the floor and had three players in double figures. Shelby Campbell led the Bulldogs with 15 points on five-of-eight shooting. Taylor Reece and Hannah Dawson scored 10 points each and helped Samford tally 36 points in the paint. The Bulldogs also scored 20 points off of 14 GSU turnovers.
Samford opened the game with eight unanswered points before Georgia Southern pulled within three on a trey by Knight. With 11:27 remaining in the first half, the Bulldogs embarked on a 19-0 run and led 31-9 before the Lady Eagles scored again. Less than 11 minutes after her three pointer, Knight made GSU's first basket in over 10 minutes right before the end of the half.
Georgia Southern got things rolling again in the second half and pulled within 16 points on back-to-back baskets by Williams. MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) added a three less than a minute later to cut the advantage to 15 points. Eight unanswered points, including a pair of threes, extended Samford's lead to 53-32 with less than 10 minutes to play. The Bulldogs jumped ahead by 28 points on a layup from Kendall Schwantz with less than four minutes to play.
The Lady Eagles wrap up a two-game road trip Monday against Chattanooga. Tip-off at McKenzie Arena is set for 7 p.m.
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