GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman's women's basketball squad returns home for its final two appearances at North Greenville's Hayes Gymnasium beginning with Thursday's contest against Mercer, followed by a Saturday clash versus Samford.
Tipoff for both games, which will be live streamed via ESPN+ and include StatBroadcast live stats, is set for 7:00 p.m.
Furman (13-13, 3-7 SoCon) is in sixth place in the Southern Conference, two games behind fifth place Samford (10-16, 5-5 SoCon) and a game up on seventh place Mercer (7-18, 2-8 SoCon).
The Paladins defeated Mercer, 57-47, in Macon on Jan. 25.
Tate Walters (14 pts.) and
Jada Session (13 pts.) paced Furman, and
Clare Coyle added 11 pts. and nine rebounds for the Paladins, who used an 8-0 fourth quarter run to take a 50-42 lead en route to the win.
Samford claimed a 77-62 win over Furman on Jan. 23 in the season's first meeting, riding 12-for-23 shooting from 3-point range for the victory.
The Paladins are coming off a 70-57 loss at Western Carolina on Saturday, a contest that saw Furman shoot just 33.3 percent (20x60) from the field and hit on only 15-of-28 free throws (53.6%) while also failing to capitalize on 27 Western Carolina turnovers. The setback halted the Paladins' 15-game series winning streak over the Catamounts.
Furman is paced in scoring
The Paladins are paced by graduate guard
Tate Walters (12.8 ppg), who currently has 1,203 career points, which is 19th in program history, and owns 439 assists, good for second on Furman's all-time ledger. Walters also ranks fifth in 3PFGM (170) and third in 3PFGA (517).
Kate Johnson, who missed the two earlier games against Samford and Mercer due to injury, is averaging 10.8 ppg and 6.3 rpg while shooting .595 percent from the field — tops in the SoCon.
Freshman point guard
Chantelle Stuart has fashioned a couple of recent breakout performances, her most recent coming in last Thursday's 55-51 loss at SoCon front-runner UNC Greensboro, when she scored a season high 15 points, including three straight baskets that helped Furman trim a 52-45 UNCG lead to 52-51. Stuart made 6-of-9 shots, which she combined with five steals and four assists. Her work versus the Spartans fo1llowed a strong 14-point, nine-assist, eight-rebound outing in Furman's 93-88 double overtime home win over Wofford.
In addition to Stuart, the Paladins have gotten notable play from two other freshmen — guard
Raina McGowens (7.4 ppg) and forward
Clare Coyle, who has shot .632 (24x38) from the field, tallied 60 points (8.6 ppg), and claimed 43 rebounds (6.2 rpg) over the last seven games.
