Jan. 8, 2002

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Jacksonville State's Shanika Freeman scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Gamecocks to a 77-65 Atlantic Sun Conference women's basketball victory at Samford Tuesday night.

Jacksonville State snapped a 10-game losing streak with the victory to improve to 2-10 on the season and 1-4 in A-Sun play. Freeman scored 10 points and had nine rebounds in the second half as the Lady Gamecocks used a 12-1 run to break open a 54 all tie with 9:12 to play. Kelly Nye finished the run with a three pointer with at the 7:03 mark which gave JSU an 11 point lead. Nye finished the night with 15 points on 3-7 shooting from three-point range. Freddricka Embry and NcKell Copeland each scored 11 points for JSU.

Samford fell to 1-10 on the season and 0-4 in the A-Sun dropping its ninth-straight game. Clarissa Clark scored a team-high 16 points while Morgan Vickery scored a career-high 13 points on 3-6 shooting from three-point range. Giovanni Price scored 10 points and had seven rebounds for the Bulldogs.

JSU jumped out to an early 17-7 lead by making four of its first five three-point shots. The Lady Gamecocks would build a 24-11 lead at the 12:40 mark of the first half. Samford overcame JSU's quick start and wheedled the lead to 34-32 with 2:12 remaining in the first half. Latas Mathis scored off an inbounds play with one second on the clock to give JSU a 38-34 halftime lead.

Samford started the second half on a 11-2 run to take a 45-40 lead at the 15:46 mark. Jacksonville State regained a brief lead at 52-51 with 10:54 to play. Clark then scored with 10:10 left put Samford ahead by one. Che' Walker who scored a career-high five points hit a free throw to give the Bulldogs a two-point lead. Tiara Eady tied the game at 54 with 9:12 and that is when JSU made its run and Samford would only get as close as 70-61 with 3:05 to play.

Samford's LaBrina Friend dished out a career-high six assists for the Bulldogs. Samford continues to struggle rebounding the basketball as JSU held a 35-28 advantage on the boards. JSU scored 15 second chance points to just five for the Bulldogs. The Lady Gamecocks shot 52 percent from the floor, 44 percent from three-point range, and 82 percent from the foul line. Samford shot 41 percent from the floor, 35 percent from 3-point range, and 62 percent from th line.

Both JSU and Samford will head to Nashville for their next games. Jax State will play Belmont on Thursday while Samford faces Belmont at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.