Box Score | SoCon Tourney Bracket (PDF)

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Brittany Hodges tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Furman shot 55 percent for the game as the Paladins topped Georgia Southern 78-68 in Southern Conference women's basketball action Sunday afternoon in Timmons Arena.

The Eagles tied for seventh in the final standings, will be the eighth seed in next week's SoCon Tournament in Asheville and will play Wofford Friday, March 7, at 11 a.m. in Kimmel Arena on the campus of UNC Asheville. A limited number of free tickets for the SoCon Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament are now available at the Georgia Southern Athletics Ticket Office. Fans have until Wed, March 5, at 5 p.m. to claim their tickets.

Anna Claire Knight scored 16 points to lead Georgia Southern (9-20, 7-11), and MiMi DuBose tallied 14 points and five assists. Sierra Kirkland posted seven points and nine rebounds, and Danielle Spencer collected six points and six rebounds.

Brigid Morrissey tallied 13 points and 11 assists for Furman (18-11, 12-6), and Sarah Durdaller chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds. Holli Wilkins scored all 15 of her points in the first half.

A late run in the first half and another one to open the second stanza helped Furman stretch out to a 12-point advantage. The Eagles led 34-30 on a layup by Lacie Dowling with 4:29 left in the first, but Morrissey scored five points in a 9-1 Paladin run as Furman went on to lead 41-36 at the break.

Furman tallied the first seven points of the second half to push the margin to 48-36 and held the Eagles without a field goal for the first 4:16. The Eagles made two runs at the Paladins but could not get over the hump as Furman answered each time.

Down 11, Knight scored six points in an 11-3 run to trim the margin to three midway through the half. Hodges got back-to-back buckets for Furman, and the teams traded buckets until a Morrissey jumper made the score 65-56 with 7:19 to play.  Knight hit free throws on the Eagles' next two trips down the floor, but Georgia Southern could not get a defensive stop as the Paladins pushed the lead back to 11 points with 3:14 remaining.

"There were a few key possessions in the second half where I thought we defended well, we just didn't finish it," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "We had one good possession of zone where we didn't finish it with a rebound and another time, we did get the rebound but had a turnover. There's just not a great margin for error when you are trying to claw your way back."

Furman shot 58 percent in the first half and 52 percent in the second frame, scoring 40 points in the paint in the contest. The Eagles shot 44 percent in the first period but hit just 11-of-34 in the second stanza and went 0-for-4 from 3-point range. The Eagles stayed in the game by making 18-of-23 from the free-throw line.

"Our energy, our fight, our resiliency, our togetherness were all good things today," said Vozab. "When we got down a little bit, we always fought back, which we talk about a lot. We've got to take the next step now this week and finish, whether it's finishing possessions on defense or when we had some good opportunities on offense and didn't convert. We have to do a better job with that Friday."

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