Greenville, S.C. – Nadine Soliman scored a team-high 16 points to lead UNC Greensboro on Thursday evening as the Spartans defeated the Furman women's basketball team, 59-53, in SoCon action at Timmons Arena.
Furman drops to 12-7 on the season and 3-2 in league play while UNC Greensboro improves to 15-4 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
Le'Jzae Davidson scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Paladins offensively and
Taylor Petty contributed 10.
Tierra Hodges poured in nine points and matched her season-high of 14 rebounds.
Milica Manojlovic tied her career-high of nine rebounds and dished out four assists.
Soliman was joined in double figures by Alexus Willey with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting behind the 3-point line. Te'Ja Twitty pulled down a team-best 12 rebounds while Alexis Pitchford dished out five assists.
The Spartans held a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter when Pitchford's jumper with 9:49 remaining extended their lead out to 47-37. Furman responded with a 10-2 run over the next 3:40 and trimmed its deficit down to 49-47 at the 5:43 mark. Hodges scored five of the 10 points with her last, a layup, cutting UNC Greensboro's lead down to two points. The Spartans came back with five consecutive points to push their lead back to seven, 54-47, with 3:40 to go. The Paladins got as close as four points twice off 3-pointers from Davidson. Soliman's layup with 30 seconds left secured the six-point victory for UNCG.
Furman took a 7-5 lead early in the contest after Petty's layup at the 6:53 mark. The first quarter featured five ties with the last coming at 11-11 on Petty's layup with 2:41 remaining. UNC Greensboro closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 18-13.
The Spartans extended their lead out to 10 points to begin the second quarter before the Paladins used an 8-0 run, highlighted by six points from Davidson, to trail 23-21 with 4:29 to go. Manojlovic kept Furman within two points, 25-23, with 3:00 remaining following her layup. UNC Greensboro closed out the half on an 8-2 run to lead 33-25 at intermission.
The Paladins scored six of the first seven points to start the second half and were down 34-31 with 6:33 to go on Petty's layup. Furman stayed within five points for most of the third quarter and trailed 36-33 with 4:17 left after a pair of free throws by Davidson. The Spartans finished the final 4:02 outscoring the Paladins 9-4 and held a 45-37 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.
Furman concluded the game shooting 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field and held a 42-37 advantage in rebounds. The Paladins also led 16-11 in second chance points.
Furman remains at home on Saturday afternoon to host Western Carolina at 2 p.m.
