Women's Basketball Drops Regular Season Finale At Tennessee State, 45-38

Feb. 24, 2005

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford women's basketball team fell, 45-38, at Tennessee State in the team's regular season finale Thursday night.

Samford (13-14, 6-10 OVC) was led by freshman guard Taryn Towns with 10 points. LaBrena Friend and Cora Beth Smith scored nine points each for the Bulldogs.

For Tennessee State (10-16, 7-8 OVC), LaKisha Clay and Leslie Dean scored 11 points each.

Tennessee State jumped out to an early lead, leading by as many as three points at 7-4 with 14:45 to go in the first half. Samford fought back to tie the game at 9-9 with 13:13 to go in the half on a basket by Cora Beth Smith.

With Tennessee State leading, 11-9, Samford took a 17-11 lead on eight-straight points by Towns. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 10 at 21-11 with 7:39 to go in the half. Tennessee State then responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 21-19 with 2:45 left in the opening period. Sarah Clement's layup with 21 seconds left gave the Bulldogs a 23-19 lead, but KaSheena Powe's three-pointer with nine seconds left cut the Samford lead to 23-22 at halftime.

Tennessee State took the lead early in the second half at 24-23. The teams went back-and-forth for most of the second half. With Samford leading, 34-32, Tennessee State went on a 9-1 run to take a 41-35 lead with 3:20 to go in the game. Samford could get no closer than three points the rest of the way as the Lady Tigers came away with the 45-38 win.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, March 1, in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The opponent and location are yet to be determined.