The team ranked best defensively in the Southern Conference lived up its billing on Saturday afternoon as UNC Greensboro ended Furman’s four-game, women’s basketball winning streak, 70-55, at Fleming Gym.

Jayde Gamble scored 13 points to lead UNCG (13-4, 2-0 SoCon) past the Paladins, who got 19 points and eight rebounds from Kate Johnson.

The Spartans outrebounded the Paladins, 34-30, and forced 20 turnovers, five credited to Johnson. Furman had a narrow shooting advantage (.452-.426) and hit 13/14 free throws.

Three others from UNCG —  Isys Grady (12), Nia Howard (12) and Ayanna Khalfani (10) – reached double figures. Nine players scored.

Jada Session scored 13 points and Tate Walters 10 (with five assists) for Furman (11-7, 1-1).
After Furman took a 16-15 first-quarter lead, UNCG responded with an 18-11 edge in the second period to take a 33-27 halftime lead. The Spartans quickly pushed the advantage into double digits in the second half with an Isys Grady jumper and Nia Howard three-pointer for a 38-27 advantage.

Furman clawed back within six (44-38) with 3:51 remaining in third quarter but never got closer. The Paladins failed to score a point after any of the Spartans’ 12 turnovers.

Take a look at the stats here.

Arthur Wellington Baker, whose name sounded like it belonged on a knight on horseback, died at age 94 on Saturday.

Art Baker, a Sumter native, was Furman’s head football coach for five seasons (1973-77) and formed the foundation of the success in the years since. He built his staff primarily from the South Carolina high schools, bringing in Dick Sheridan, Jimmy Satterfield, Steve Robertson, Bobby Johnson and Eric Hyman, among others.

In early 1978, Baker left Furman for The Citadel. As a head coach, he was 27-24-4 at Furman, 30-26-1 with the Bulldogs and 12-32 at East Carolina.

Furman improved from 2-9 to 7-4 in his first season.

Furman’s three most recent head coaches — Bobby Lamb (2002-10), Bruce Fowler (2011-16) and Clay Hendrix (2017-Present) — are all extensions of Baker’s coaching tree, having either played for Sheridan and later served as Sheridan’s assistant or on the staffs of Satterfield and Johnson.

“Coach Baker’s fingerprints are forever on Furman football, and Paladins everywhere will always appreciate the impact he had on our program, from his character as a man and influence as a coach on the field to the quality coaches he surrounded himself with,” stated Hendrix on Sunday.

Prior to coming to Furman, he served as an assistant coach at Texas Tech (1970-72) and Clemson (1965-69).  He also served as an assistant at Florida State (1984).

Baker was a standout football player and 1953 graduate of Presbyterian.

The men can reach .500 and a game above it in the SoCon with a victory at Virginia Military on Wednesday night.

Samford (15-2, 4-0 SoCon) buried the Keydets, 134-96, setting school records for consecutive wins (15) and points in a game. VMI (3-14, 0-4) once trailed by 41 points.

In their SoCon opener, however, Wofford needed overtime to defeat the Keydets, 87-85, in Spartanburg.

Penn defeated Furman, 4-0, in men’s tennis. The match was played at the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend facility in Knoxville.

The Paladins are 0-2. The Quakers are 1-1.

Women’s tennis also fell in its season opener in Knoxville, as 18th-ranked Tennessee thumped the Paladins, 7-0.

At No. 2 singles, Furman’s Maeve Thornton took 91st-ranked Alana Wolfberg to a set-two tie-breaker.

At No. 3, Ellie Schulson forced a tie-breaker in the opening set versus Catherine Aulia, before falling, 7-6(1), 6-4.

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