Box Score Box score
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman Paladins used a 42-22 first half, to defeat the Wofford Terriers 80-44 Wednesday night in Timmons Arena in an in-state rival between the two Southern Conference teams.
In the first half, Wofford fell behind early 8-2 just over two minutes into the game when Kaitlin Murphy scored for Furman. Led by Kendra Berry, who had 12 points in the first eight minutes of play, Furman opened up the lead to 21-8 to with 12:16 remaining in the half. The Terriers were able to cut the lead to 25-15 on a Jessica Escorza three with 9:35 remaining, but the Paladins rallied with an 11-3 run to push the lead to 36-18 on a Kelly O’Connor three with under three minutes in the half. The Paladins closed out the half with a steal and layup by O’Connor to take a 42-22 lead into the locker rooms.
Wofford shot 38 percent from the floor in the half, and 40 percent from three, compared to Furman’s 49 percent field goal percentage and 22 percent three-point percentage.
Following the break, the Paladins 12-4 run to take a 30 point lead, 56-26, just over five minutes into play. Wofford was never able to cut the lead to under 20 points, as Furman again took a 30 point lead, 70-40, with 3:37 to play in the half. The Paladins took their largest lead, 80-43, with 57 seconds to play, as they clinched the game with the 80-44 win.
Wofford finished by going 33 percent overall, 23 percent from behind the arc and 42 percent from the line. Furman was 48 percent from the floor, 31 percent from three and 54 percent from the line.
Wofford was led by Mahagony Williams, who scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds coming just one board shy of a double-double. Maddie Helms handed out a career-high four assists. Daniella Motley also grabbed nine rebounds.
For Furman, Berry paced the team with 17 points by going 8-of-11 from the floor. Murphy scored 16 points, while O’Connor notched 14 points.
The Terriers committed 27 fouls sending the Paladins to the line 33 times, while Furman only committed 15 fouls putting Wofford at the line only 12 times. Nine different Paladins went 18-of-33 from the line, while two Terriers went 5-of-12 from the stripe.
Furman forced 28 Wofford turnovers and scored 31 points, while Wofford only scored eight points off of 17 Furman turnovers.
Furman won the battle in the paint outscoring the Terriers 28-10 and won the battle of the board with 43 rebounds to Wofford’s 38.
The Terriers’ 44 total points this season is a new season low, breaking the previous mark of 47 the team scored in the last game against Elon and the season opener against Gardner-Webb.
Wofford falls to 6-10 overall and 2-6 in the SoCon, while Furman improves to 7-10 overall and 3-5 in the conference. The Paladins also snapped and seven game losing skid and a five game SoCon slide with the win. Wofford also falls to 0-19 all-time at Furman and 0-14 in Timmons Arena.
The Terriers will return to the hardwood Saturday, January 22 against Davidson at 6 p.m. in Benjamin Johnson Arena.
