January 5, 1999

UNC GREENSBORO DOWNS FURMAN 78-70

GREENVILLE, South Carolina -- Furman freshman Mary Brock scored a career-high 18 points and junior Jackie Smith recorded her fifth double-double of the season, but the Lady Paladin effort fell short as UNC Greensboro handed Furman its first conference loss of the season in a 78-70 battle Tuesday night at Timmons Arena.

The Lady Paladins held a slight 32-30 lead at halftime after outshooting the Spartans 46% to 31% in the first half. In addition, the Lady Paladins were two-for-five (.400) from three point range and four-for-four from the free throw line at the break, and had outrebounded UNCG 20-18 in the first period

The Spartans started pressing Furman at the start of the second period, however, and took the first and final lead at the 18:08 mark on a made layup by Samika Foster. UNCG went on to lead by as many as 11, but Furman pulled to within three with 46 seconds left. When the time crunch forced the Lady Paladins to foul, UNCG responded by making three of four free throws to earn the eight point victory.

The Lady Paladins shot 52% in the second half, but commited nine turnovers to the Spartans' four. In addition, the UNCG got hot with 19-for-33 (.576) shooting from the field and recorded eight steals to the Lady PaladinsÕ three.

In addition to Brock and Smith's double-digit nights, senior Heidi White tallied 14 points and dished off a team-high nine assists, despite a case of the flu. For UNCG, Brianne Dodgen led the team with 17 points and six rebounds, while Melinda Goodson added 16 points, Katie DelCampo tallied 14, and Samika Foster added 13, seven of which were scored on free throws.

With the win, the Spartans improve to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Conference, thereby moving into a tie atop the league with the Lady Paladins. Furman dropped to 7-6 overall and 4-1 in the league. UNCG is the only team to have beaten Furman at Timmons Arena, and has now done so twice -- once in the 1997-98 season and again Tuesday night.