Greensboro, N.C. – The Furman women's basketball team closed out its road schedule on Saturday afternoon with a 61-53 loss in SoCon play to the UNC Greensboro Spartans inside Fleming Gym.
Furman drops to 17-11 overall and 7-6 in the conference while UNCG improves to 20-7 on the season and 9-3 in league play.
Le'Jzae Davidson paced the Paladins offensively with a game-high 17 points to go with three steals.
Tierra Hodges added nine points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Milica Manojlovic contributed nine points and two assists.
Davidson connected on three 3-pointers in the contest, moving her past Brooke Hand of Chattanooga (2004-08) for second place all-time in 3-pointers made by a SoCon player.
Nadine Soliman led four Spartans in double figures with 14 points and had four assists. Alexus Willey posted 11 points while Aja Boyd and Cece Credup compiled 10 apiece. Te'ja Twitty finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds and three steals.
Furman opened the game on an 11-5 run over the first 5:43 and built a six-point advantage after a pair of free throws by
Taylor Petty. Following a layup from Boyd, the Paladins held UNC Greensboro scoreless for the final 3:15 of the quarter. Davidson scored the last four points to extend Furman's lead to 15-7.
UNCG went on a 6-0 run to start the second quarter and trailed 15-13 at the 7:05 mark. Twitty kept the Spartans within two points, 17-15, with 4:30 left after her jumper. The Paladins answered with three free throws from Davidson and
Celena Taborn to push their lead out to 20-15 with 3:33 remaining.
Lindsey Taylor maintained the five-point lead for Furman with 1:16 to go when her layup made the score 22-17. UNCG followed with a jumper as the Paladins led 22-19 at halftime.
The Spartans outscored Furman 24-14 in the third quarter that began with five of the first seven points to tie the score at 24-24 less than two minutes into the period. After UNCG went ahead 26-24, Davidson came back with a layup to tie the score at 26-26 with 6:20 remaining. UNC Greensboro would then go on an 11-3 run over the next 3:15 and took a 36-29 lead at the 3:04 mark. The Paladins answered with a 7-2 run of their own and trailed 38-36 with 1:32 to go after a jumper by Manojlovic. UNCG scored the final five points to lead 43-36 heading to the fourth quarter.
Willey knocked down a 3-pointer less than 15 seconds into the final period and gave the Spartans a 46-36 advantage. Furman got as close as four points midway when Davidson's layup cut its deficit down to 52-48 with 4:38 remaining. That would be as close as the Paladins got with UNC Greensboro scoring six of its final nine points at the free throw line. Alexis Pitchford made 1-of-2 free throws with 13 seconds left as UNCG led 61-51. Manojlovic ended the game with a layup to put the final score at 61-53.
Furman concluded the game shooting 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the field and 81.0 percent (17-for-21) at the free throw line. The Paladins held a 32-29 advantage in rebounding.
Furman also led in second chance points (9-2) and bench points (28-12).
The Paladins wrap up their regular season next Saturday, February 29 hosting Wofford on Senior Day at 2 p.m.
