Meredyth Frye hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left, and Hannah Dawson’s long 3-point try as the buzzer sounded came up short as Georgia Southern defeated Samford 52-51 in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Saturday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
    Frye scored the last seven points of the game for the Eagles (5-19, 4-11 SoCon), who overcame a 42-35 deficit with 7:04 left in the game.
    With GSU trailing 47-45, Frye hit a triple from the top of the key and after Taylor Reece scored on a layup for Samford, Frye blew past two Bulldogs with a nifty shot fake and got to the hoop for a layup that gave the Eagles a 50-49 lead with 39.5 seconds left.
    Jazmine Martin drove baseline on Samford’s trip down the floor, was fouled and made her free throws with 26.9 seconds left. After a Georgia Southern timeout with 11 seconds remaining, Frye got the ball at the top of the key, drove right, got fouled and had her runner kiss off the glass and roll off the front of the rim. The senior calmly knocked down two free throws for the 52-51 win.
    “I had been hitting 3s the whole game — they (seemed) to fall for me today — and Samford came out thinking I was going to shoot,” said Frye. “I knew the drive was going to be open so that’s what I took.”
    “There was one set we wanted to run, but we normally run it for our wing players,” said GSU coach Chris Vozab. “Mere was hot so we ran it for her. She took the ball aggressively and made a great play at the
rim.”
    Frye finished with 17 points and three steals. Anna Claire Knight scored 10 and dished out a career-high seven assists, and MiMi DuBose netted nine points.

Martin led Samford (12-13, 9-7 SoCon) with a game-high 19 points, and
Dawson scored 13.

Leading 31-30, Georgia Southern went cold from the field, and Samford
went on a 12-4 spurt to open up a 42-35 cushion with 7:04 left in the
game. Taylor Reece scored four points from the free-throw line during
the run, and Kendall Schwantz hit a layup and capped the stretch with
a long triple from the wing.

DuBose was fouled on a 3-point try and made two free throws to spark a
10-2 run for the Eagles. DuBose hit a triple, and Ronnesha Smith
nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with the shot clock winding
down to put the Eagles ahead 45-44 with 3:52 remaining. Dawson
answered with a long triple from the wing that kissed off the glass to
put the Bulldogs back on top by two points just 26 seconds later.

The Eagles forced 20 Samford turnovers and scored 23 points off the
miscues while committing just 13. GSU shot 29 percent from the floor
but canned 16-of-18 from the charity stripe.

“Stepping up the defensive pressure really helped us,” said Vozab.
“Ronnesha Smith and Sierra Kirkland came off the bench and did an
excellent job keeping our defensive intensity up when we weren’t
executing the way we like to on the offensive end.”

Frye scored seven of Georgia Southern’s first 10 points as the Eagles
jumped out to a 10-3 advantage. GSU led 23-15 following a 3-pointer by
Maggie Davis, but Samford responded with a 10-2 run, capped by
consecutive Dawson triples, to tie the score 25-25 with 4:23 left in
the frame. Knight hit a pair of free throws for GSU, and Martin
connected on a driving layup for Samford as the teams went into the
break tied 27-27.

The Eagles return to action Monday night when they host SoCon leader
Chattanooga in Hanner Fieldhouse. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.