Athens, Ga. – Le'Jzae Davidson scored a team-high 12 points on Sunday afternoon as the Furman women's basketball team dropped a 77-48 road decision to the Georgia Lady Bulldogs inside Stegeman Coliseum.
Furman drops to 6-4 on the season while Georgia improves to 7-3 overall.
Davidson concluded the game with 12 points on four 3-pointers to lead the Paladins offensively.
Tierra Hodges contributed 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Celena Taborn also had 10 points while pulling down five rebounds.
Milica Manojlovic dished out three assists.
Shaniya Jones had a game-high 20 points for the Lady Bulldogs while Stephanie Paul finished with 14. Defensively, Javyn Nicholson recorded seven rebounds and Que Morrison had six. Gabby Connally posted four assists.
Davidson scored nine of her 12 points in the first quarter after shooting 3-of-4 behind the 3-point line. Georgia opened the game on a 7-0 run that covered the first 2:01. The Lady Bulldogs led by seven points twice after that with the last coming at 15-8 with 1:51 remaining on a layup from Kaila Hubbard. Furman finished the quarter on an 8-2 run, with Davidson scoring six points, and trailed 17-16. Davidson's 3-pointer with one second left cut the Paladins' deficit down to one.
Furman started the second quarter with another 3-pointer by Davidson as it tied the game at 19-19 with 9:20 to go. Georgia responded with a 15-1 run and went in front 34-20 at the 4:21 mark on a 3-pointer from Jones. The Paladins got as close as 10 points, 34-24, with 2:06 remaining on Taborn's layup. Morrison connected on two free throws with 45 seconds left to give the Lady Bulldogs a 38-24 lead at halftime.
Hodges and
Taylor Petty kept Furman within 12 points twice in the third quarter. Petty's layup with 8:39 left made the score 38-26. Following a Georgia basket, Hodges came back with a jumper and put the score at 40-28. The Lady Bulldogs followed with nine straight points to take a 49-28 lead at the 4:00 mark. Jones gave Georgia a 55-30 advantage with 53 seconds remaining following her jumper. The Lady Bulldogs led 57-34 after three quarters.
The Paladins got as close as 23 points in the fourth quarter when Hodges made two free throws to trim Georgia's lead down to 61-38. The Lady Bulldogs took their largest lead of game, 29 points, four times in the fourth quarter starting at 71-42 with 3:05 remaining. A jumper by Ari Henderson with 23 seconds left put the final score at 77-48.
Furman concluded the game shooting 30.5 percent (18-of-59) from the field while compiling 24 points in the paint and 22 from its bench.
The Paladins close out their road trip next weekend, December 20-21, facing Florida Atlantic and either Harvard or Saint Joseph's at the FAU Holiday Classic in Boca Raton, Fla.
