Feb. 12, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Cora Beth Smith scored 19 points to lead the Samford women's basketball team to a 68-57 Ohio Valley Conference win over Morehead State Saturday afternoon at Seibert Hall.

For Samford (12-11, 5-7 OVC), following Smith was Sarah Clement with 13 points. Tish Pilkerton scored 11 points for the Bulldogs, and MaKenzie Spruiell added a career-high 10 points. Andrea Ward and Pilkerton led the team in rebounding with eight boards apiece.

Morehead State (4-19, 2-10 OVC) was led by Tarah Combs with 16 points. TaNeisha Johnson added 12 points for the Lady Eagles. Shelly Johnson pulled down 11 rebounds for Morehead State.

"I thought it all started with C.B.'s (Smith's) aggressiveness, coming in and giving us 19 points," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "When she's aggressive and looking to score, it opens up a lot of things for everyone else. It was a complete team effort."

MaKenzie Spruiell scored a career-high 10 points in Saturday's win over Morehead State.

"I am so proud of how tough our girls are in terms of how they responded from a tough loss on Thursday against Eastern Kentucky," Morris said. "This is the beauty of team sports, you have someone like A.J. (Ward) who comes in off the bench and gives us eight rebounds. And then, MaKenzie Spruiell, who has struggled, but she has fought and remained tough, and for her to give us 10 points was huge."

Samford jumped out to an early 6-1 lead over the Lady Eagles. Morehead State then went on an 8-1 run to take a 9-7 lead. With Morehead State leading, 11-9, Samford came back with a 9-1 run on two three-pointers by Spruiell and one by Ward, to take the lead back at 18-12 with 6:43 to go in the first half.

Samford pushed its lead to as much as eight points in the first half at 24-16, but Morehead State scored the next six points to cut the lead back to two at 24-22. The Bulldogs took a 28-24 lead into halftime.

After Morehead State cut the Samford lead to one at 28-27 early in the second half, Samford responded with a 7-0 run to push the lead to eight at 35-27 with 15:01 left in the game on a layup by LaBrena Friend.

With Samford leading by 10 at 44-34, Morehead State went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to two at 47-45 with 8:27 to go in the game. Samford increased the lead back to eight with a 6-0 run to make the score 53-45 with 6:30 to go in the contest.

Samford led by as much as 16 points in the second half at 68-52 with 1:49 to go on a pair of free throws by Smith. Morehead State closed the game with a 5-0 run to make the final score 68-57.

Samford will return to action on Thursday, February 17, when the Bulldogs travel to Clarksville, Tenn., to take on Austin Peay. The game is scheduled for a 5:15 p.m. tip-off. The contest can be heard worldwide on the internet at www.samfordsports.com.