Samford Women’s Basketball wins SOCON Tournament title with 59-54 win over UNCG

Posted: Mar 8, 2020 / 02:45 PM CDT

Updated: Mar 10, 2020 / 05:06 PM CDT

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WIAT/SAMFORD ATHLETICS) — The Samford women’s basketball team scored the final seven points of the game to come from behind for a 59-54 win over UNC Greensboro in the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

With the win, Samford earns the SoCon’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs’ record improves to 18-14, while UNCG falls to 23-9.

The win marks Samford’s third SoCon Tournament title and third NCAA Tournament bid. The Bulldogs previously accomplished the feat in 2011 and 2012.

FROM THE BOX SCORE

Natalie Armstrong, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, led the Bulldogs with 20 points and seven rebounds.

Charity Brown had 14 points and four assists.

Shauntai Battle added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Paige Serup, who was also named first team All-Tournament, led the team with five assists.

Sarah Myers, who was named second team All-Tournament, added nine points for the Bulldogs.

UNCG was led by Alexus Willey with 14 points, while Aja Boyd had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

UNCG jumped out to an early 14-7 lead with 2:04 left in the first quarter.

The Spartans held a 14-9 advantage at the end of the first period.

Samford opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to take a 19-16 lead with 4:18 left in the quarter after a jumper by Brown.

With Samford leading, 19-18 late in the second quarter, back-to-back three-pointers by Serup and Brown gave the Bulldogs a 25-18 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

UNCG scored the first six points of the third quarter to cut the Samford lead to 25-24 with 7:47 to go in the period.

The Spartans came back to take a 40-39 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Samford scored the first four points of the fourth period to take a 43-40 lead with 7:59 to play after a layup by Battle.

UNCG fought back to take a 54-52 lead with 2:29 to play on a basket by Nadine Soliman.

A layup by Armstrong tied the game at 54-54 with 1:17 to go. Armstrong then gave the Bulldogs a 57-54 lead with a three-pointer with 20.8 seconds to go. A layup by Brown with seven seconds to go made the final score 59-54.

Samford will learn its NCAA opponent and location when the tournament field is announced Monday, March 16, at 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.