Boiling Springs, N.C. – Tierra Hodges recorded her third double-double of the season and led five Paladins in double figures as the Furman women's basketball team held off the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs for a 72-67 victory Saturday afternoon at Paul Porter Arena.
Furman improves to 4-3 on the season while Gardner-Webb falls to 3-2 overall.
Hodges scored a career-high 18 points and dished out a career-best seven assists to lead the Paladins offensively while picking up her third double-double this year with 14 rebounds. Hodges concluded the game shooting 6-of-11 from the field and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
Celena Taborn added 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Taylor Petty,
Le'Jzae Davidson and
Lindsey Taylor each had 10 points.
Milica Manojlovic dished out five assists while Davidson contributed four. Both Manojlovic and Davidson tallied three steals.
Carley Plentovich was one of three Runnin' Bulldogs to score in double-digits with 18 points while pulling down six rebounds. Savanna Plentovich posted 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Alexis Hueston scored 10 points.
Furman led by as many as eight points twice in the fourth quarter beginning at 58-50 with 4:24 remaining on a free throw by Taborn. A pair of free throws from Petty with 3:06 left kept the Paladins ahead by eight points, 60-52. Gardner-Webb responded with a 10-3 run over the next two minutes and trailed 63-62 at the 1:14 mark. Furman then scored six consecutive points, including four at the free throw line, to lead 69-62 with 18 seconds to go. The Paladins added three more free throws and held a 72-64 advantage with six seconds left in the game. The Runnin' Bulldogs connected on a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining to put the final score at 72-67.
Furman closed out the first quarter scoring seven straight points over the final 1:04 and led 21-10. Gardner-Webb had cut its deficit down to four points twice over the last three minutes with the last coming at 14-10 with 1:33 left.
After the Runnin' Bulldogs trimmed the Paladins' lead down to 26-22 with 4:22 to go in the second quarter, Furman scored the next nine points and went ahead 35-22 at the 2:44 mark on a free throw by Taylor.
Jarya Outten connected on two free throws with 1:08 remaining to keep the Paladins lead at 13 points, 37-24. Gardner-Webb made one free throw with 58 seconds left to put the halftime score at 37-25.
The Runnin' Bulldogs outscored Furman 23-14 in the third quarter highlighted by a 14-1 run to begin the period. Savannah Plentovich capped the run at the 7:16 mark and put the score at 39-38 following her 3-pointer. The Paladins answered with a 7-0 run over nearly a two-minute stretch and went ahead 46-38 with 5:55 left on Petty's layup. Gardner-Webb cut the lead down to one point again, 49-48, on a layup by Hueston with 2:50 left. Furman held the Runnin' Bulldogs without a point over the final 2:49. Taborn's layup with 1:22 to go gave the Paladins a 51-48 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Furman finished the game shooting 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field. The Paladins held a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint while also leading in second chance points (11-9) and bench points (16-11).
Furman returns home on Thursday, December 5 to host Georgia State at 7 p.m.
