Monday, February 16
Davidson, N.C.
7:00 p.m.
Davidson College
67
vs
78
Samford
Julia Paquette has scored 26 combined points in her last two games.
Photo by: Sideline Sports
Davidson Falls Short on Senior Night, 78-67
2/16/2009 10:21:37 PM | Women's Basketball
Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Emily London scored a game-high 22 points to lead five Bulldogs in double figures as Samford spoiled the Wildcats' senior night in women's basketball action with a 78-67 win over Davidson in Southern Conference play on Monday evening at John M. Belk Arena.
Davidson, playing in its final regular-season home game, fell to 10-16 overall and 9-8 in league play. Samford picked up its fourth straight win to run its overall mark to 21-4 and 16-2 in the SoCon.
In their final home games of their careers, seniors Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) and Mandy Halbersleben (Cincinnati, Ohio) nearly pulled off double-doubles with 10 points and eight rebounds each, and Davidson had four players reach double digits in all, but it was the Bulldog's shooting that stole the show on Monday evening.
Samford hit a blistering 69.2 percent (18-26) in the first half on its way to a 46-28 halftime lead. The Bulldogs opened the game hitting 11 of its first 14 shots in grabbing a 25-5 lead on a Chika Okoli three-pointer with 11:29 left in the half.
It seemed like the Bulldogs could not miss from behind the arc either, draining nine treys on 15 attempts in the half, and closed out the game 12-of-21. They came in ranked second in the league in three-point accuracy at 36.1 percent.
For the game, Samford closed out at 58.3 percent, with London setting the pace by hitting 6-of-9 shots, including 4-of-5 from downtown. Joining London in double figures was Savannah Hill with 15 points, Okoli with 12 points, and the guard duo of Megan Wilderotter (10) and Karmen Smith (11). London, Wilderotter and Smith combined to hit nine of the Bulldogs' 12 three-pointers on the evening.
Davidson did its best to counter Samford's hot shooting by canning 50 percent of its own shots, but the Wildcats were not able to find their hot-hand from behind the arc, going just 5-of-19 from three-land.
The 50 percent shooting and 67 points scored were all season highs allowed by a Samford squad that came in ranked first in the SoCon in points allowed (51.4) and defensive field goal percentage (35.7). The Wildcats' have the two highest scoring games of the year allowed by Samford, after hitting for 65 back on Jan. 19 in the first meeting.
J'Quita Babineaux gave Samford its largest led of the game at 21 (60-39) with an and-one play at the 13:58 mark of the second half.
The Wildcats tried to make a late charge, going on a 12-4 run that cut the Bulldog lead down to 11 at 71-60 after Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) swished home a three-ball at the top of the key with 3:22 remaining. Lax pushed her SoCon-best made three-point total to 60 on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc and finished with 14 points. She is just six three-pointers away from setting the school's single-season record for made three-balls.
Davidson cut the lead to 11 two more times in the last three minutes, but were not able to cut it under double digits in dropping the 78-67 home decision.
Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) had her second straight solid game off the bench, hitting for 14 points on 7-of-8 from the field, and helped the Wildcats to a 39-32 advantage in points in the paint. The Wildcats have scored at least 30 points down on the blocks in the last six games.
Prior to the game, Robinson and Halbersleben were honored for their four-years of service as part of the Senior Night event. With her eight rebounds, Robinson is just 10 boards away from setting the single-season school record, which is held by Sally Howell with 268.
The Wildcats take to the road for their final three regular season games, with a trip to Statesboro, Ga., to start things off. They will play Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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