Dec. 3, 2002

Samford hits the road for Hattiesburg to face Southern Mississippi Tuesday night. The game can be heard via the internet at www.samfordsports.com. The Bulldogs are coming off a 70-50 win over Morris Brown last Saturday in the Jacksonville State Thanksgiving Classic. It was first-year head coach Mike Morris' first career win.

Natalie McLendon scored 13 points to lead four Samford players in double figures and the Bulldogs out-rebounded Morris Brown, 43-36. Noot Pittman and Morgan Vickery each pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Giovanni Price, Lindsey Harris and Chelsee Insell each added 11 points. Price was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 25 points in two tournament games. Samford shot 36 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range. The Bulldogs shot 77 percent from the free-throw line.

Shereka Wright led No. 6 Purdue with 19 points as the Lady Boilermakers handed Southern Miss. its second loss of the season Sunday afternoon in Hattiesburg, 65-53. Dana Jones led the Lady Eagles with 11 points while La'Tasha Sumerall added 10 points. Jones leads the Lady Eagles in scoring averaging 14.5 points per game. Sonja Brown is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game and has 19 blocks in four games for the Lady Eagles.

Samford and Southern Mississippi meet for the third time with the series tied 1-1. The Bulldogs won last season's meeting, 64-61, in Birmingham.

Samford leads the conference in free-throw shooting (75.9 percent). The Bulldogs are second in turnover margin (+0.75) and third in rebounding defense (36.8 rpg). Freshman guard Cora Beth Smith leads the conference in free-throw shooting (100 percent). Senior forward Noot Pittman is fourth in rebounding (8.3 rpg)

Samford returns home for its second home game of the season Saturday. The Bulldogs host future Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri State at 2 p.m.