BIRMINGHAM, ALA. -- Brittany Stevens scored a career high 23 points and Samford used hot shooting to build a big lead en route to 77-63 victory over Furman in Southern Conference women's basketball action Thursday evening at the Pete Hanna Center.

The loss halts a three-game winning streak by Furman (14-14, 7-6 SoCon) and guarantees the Paladins a Southern Conference Tournament matchup against ETSU as either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, who face each other on Thursday, March 3 at 1:45 p.m. in first round action at Asheville's U.S. Cellular Center.  The Paladins and Buccaneers split the regular season series with both teams claiming home court wins.

In completing the season sweep of Furman, Samford (18-10, 10-3 SoCon) blistered the nets at a 57.1 percent clip over the game's first 20 minutes, draining 16-of-28 shots, to build a 38-25 lead halftime lead.

Stevens, a junior guard who entered the contest averaging 6.2 points per game, converted 8-of-17 attempts, including 3-of-6 3-pointers, and four free throws to pace the Bulldogs, who finished the contest shooting 50.9 percent (27-of-53).

Amara Mayers followed Stevens with 15 points, and Taylor Reece tallied 14 for the Bulldogs.

Furman got a career high 23 points from sophomore forward Cierra Carter, 17 points by Whitney Bunn, and 14 points from Kelsey Ellis.

The Paladins led 12-9 early before the Bulldogs closed the first quarter on a 12-2 run to go up 21-14.

Samford pushed its advantage to 30-16 three minutes into the second period and led 38-25 led at intermission behind Stevens, who tallied 15 of her 23 points over the game's first two periods.

A Stevens layup six minutes into the second half gave Samford its biggest positive margin of the contest at 54-30, but Furman capped the third period with eight straight points, including a Bunn jump shot with 34 seconds to go, to get within 54-38.

The Paladins continued their comeback in the fourth quarter, getting back-to-back baskets from Carter and Bunn to slice the advantage to 54-42 before a Stevens free throw halted the 12-0 Furman run.

Furman cut it to 69-61 with a minute to go, but that's as close as the Paladins would get as Taylor Reece drained a pair of free throws to blunt FU's surge.

The Paladins wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Mercer in a 2:00 p.m. game.