January 2, 2003

FURMAN OUTLASTS UNC GREENSBORO 74-66 IN SOUTHERN CONFERENCE WOMEN¹S BASKETBALL ACTION

GREENVILLE, South Carolina -- Furman¹s Lady Paladin basketball team connected on 87.5% (28-of-32) of its free throws Thursday night to record a 74-66 Southern Conference win over UNC Greensboro in Timmons Arena.

Freshman point guard Tommi Paris (Chattanooga, Tenn.) tallied a career-high 15 points and was 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, junior Deshara Shealey (Greenbay, Va.) topped the Furman effort with 21 points, while sophomore Jen Nadalin (Guelph, Ontario) totaled 12. Kim Lawrence (Atl.anta, Ga.) claimed a team-high eight rebounds.

Entering the halftime locker room, the Lady Paladins trailed 38-36, but a Lauren Few (Hendersonville, N.C.) layup early in the second half got the ball rolling for the Lady Paladins. Though Furman outscored UNCG 38-28 in the second period, the game featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes, and seemed destined to come down to the wire until the 2:41 mark, when Furman took the largest lead of the game, 66-57, on a pair of Katie Roach free throws.

With the victory Furman improved to 5-5 on the year and won its first Southern Conference game of the season. ³This was a very good beginning,² said head coach Sam Dixon. ³The team is playing really hard and competing hard. We play best when we are an attacking, aggressive team and that is what we did tonight.²

Furman travels to Boone, N.C., on Friday for a Saturday game against the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.