Lady Eagles Look to Snap Streak at Samford Saturday
2/11/2012 12:28:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Looking to snap a four-game losing streak, the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles travel to Samford Saturday for the first of a two-game road swing. Tip-off from Pete Hanna Center is set for 3 p.m.
Georgia Southern (7-16, 3-11) is hoping a change of venue will help them shake a four-game losing streak and allow them to pick up their 200th all-time Southern Conference victory. In order to do so the Lady Eagles will have to get past Samford (13-9, 8-5), who is currently fourth in the SoCon standings.
"Samford was the most improved team coming into the season and the Princeton offense is so hard to defend. You have to score with them," said Head Coach Rusty Cram.
MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) has scored 14 points in the last two games and has led the team in scoring in three of the last five contests. DuBose is averaging a team-best 10.1 points per game in conference play. Meredyth Frye (Fredricksburg, Va.), who paces the team with 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, scored in double figures for the first time in her last five games with 11 points against Davidson.
The Bulldogs hold a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series after joining the Southern Conference in 2008. Samford won the first four meetings in the series and picked up a 53-47 victory at Hanner Fieldhouse in early January. GSU trailed by only two points in the final four minutes of that contest, but the Bulldogs drained 15 free throws to ice the victory when the Lady Eagles started fouling.
"As good as they are at shooting free throws, they are that good at keeping you off the free throw line," said Cram. "They do such a great job of taking care of the defensive boards and limit you to one look. They put all four or five players back on defensive to make sure you do not get any fast breaks."
Samford is coming off a 73-59 loss at Wofford but remain undefeated at home in seven contests. The Terriers led 42-29 at halftime and pulled ahead by 16 points with less than 10 minutes to play in the second half before the Bulldogs rallied to within seven points in the final three minutes.
Paige Anderson, who scored 23 points in the first meeting between the two schools this season, leads the Bulldogs with 13.5 points per game. The squad ranks first in the conference in field goal percentage and averages 62.5 points per game.
"You have to limit Anderson and then try to hold everybody else," said Cram about Samford's leading scorer. "If she had not gone off and scored 23, we might have been able to sneak in the back door and win that game at our place."
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