Dec. 21, 2004

ATLANTA, Ga. - Sophomore forward Veronica Pike scored 20 points and pulled down six rebounds, but it was not enough, as the Samford women's basketball team fell at Georgia Tech, 64-52, in Alexander Memorial Coliseum Tuesday afternoon.

"I thought we battled and played hard," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I thought we had a chance down the stretch, but Georgia Tech is a good team. They did what they had to down the stretch to win the game."

Georgia Tech (6-2) jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five points of the game. The Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to nine at 15-6 with 14:47 to go in the half on a basket by Ashley Guerrant.

Samford (7-2) then went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 17-17 with 8:35 remaining in the opening period on a layup by LaBrena Friend. Georgia Tech scored the next seven points to go back ahead by a score of 24-17 with 5:29 to go in the half. The Bulldogs then scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to one at 26-25 on a jumper by Cora Beth Smith with 3:34 to play in the half. The Yellow Jackets closed the half outscoring the Bulldogs, 6-4, and Georgia Tech took a 32-29 lead into halftime.

Georgia Tech pushed its lead to six points early in the second half at 37-31. Samford cut the lead to three points on several occasions, but could get no closer. With Samford trailing, 50-46, Georgia Tech went on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 11 at 57-46 with 3:17 to play in the game. The Bulldogs could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, and the Yellow Jackets came away with the 64-52 win.

Following Pike for Samford was Smith with nine points. Georgia Tech was led by Stephanie Higgs with 30 points and Chioma Nnamaka with 21 points.

Samford will return to action on December 30 and 31 when the Bulldogs play in the Wells Fargo New Year's Classic in San Antonio, Texas. The team will play Texas-San Antonio on December 30 at 7:00 p.m., and Western Michigan on December 31 at 2:00 p.m.