Boca Raton, Fla. – Le'Jzae Davidson scored a season-high 24 points, while Tierra Hodges turned in her fifth double-double of the season, as the Furman women's basketball team captured the 2019 FAU Holiday Classic Championship with a 63-48 victory over the Saint Joseph's Hawks at FAU Arena on Saturday.

With the win, Furman improves its record to 8-4 on the season. Saint Joseph's falls to 5-6 overall.

Davidson connected on all seven 3-pointers, a career-high, for the Paladins and scored a game-high 24 points while grabbing five rebounds. Hodges went 8-of-13 from the field to finish with 18 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. Celena Taborn was 5-of-7 shooting and finished with 12 points. Milica Manojlovic dished out six assists.

Mary Sheehan led the Hawks offensively with 13 points while Claire Melia added nine. Lula Roig and Katie Jekot both contributed eight points. Gabby Smalls pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

Davidson fell one 3-pointer shy of tying the program's single-game record of eight, which has been recorded four times in school history.

Furman scored the first seven points of the third quarter, as part of a 14-4 run, and built a 33-24 lead with 7:45 remaining after Davidson's 3-pointer. Another 3-pointer by Davidson at the 4:18 mark gave the Paladins a 40-28 advantage. Davidson's fourth triple of the period put Furman ahead by 14 points as it held a 48-36 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Davidson and Hodges combined for five consecutive points to begin the fourth quarter as the Paladins took their largest lead of the game, 53-36, with 7:21 left. Furman held a 17-point advantage four more times in the period with the last coming at 63-46 with five seconds left in the game on Taborn's layup. A last-second field goal by Saint Joseph's made the final score 63-48.

A 9-3 run by the Paladins highlighted the game's opening 2:28 as Manojlovic put them ahead by six points with her jumper. Furman scored 17 of the first 24 points in the contest when a pair of free throws from Hodges made the score 17-7 with 5:30 remaining. The Hawks outscored the Paladins 9-2 over the final 4:52 as Furman held a 19-16 lead at the end of the period.

Saint Joseph's continued its run into the second quarter and took a 22-19 lead at the 6:46 mark. The teams combined for just eight points over the last 5:22 of the first half. The Paladins scored the final four points on layups by Grace van Rij and Lindsey Taylor. Taylor's layup with 35 seconds to go sent Furman into halftime leading 26-24.

The Paladins concluded the game shooting 49.0 percent (24-of-49) from the field and 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) behind the 3-point line.

Furman held a 16-12 advantage in second chance points while both teams finished with 28 points in the paint.

Davidson was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the FAU Holiday Classic and also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team along with Hodges.

The Paladins return home to Timmons Arena on Monday, December 30 to host Elon at 7 p.m.