I’m getting soft. I’m sitting here watching a replay of Saturday’s Chattanooga-Citadel game, and I find myself rooting for the Bulldogs. I fear that an important consequence of a Furman education is fading away.

I know how it’s going to turn out. It’ll pass.

Not everyone was at Timmons Arena, though I was.

In Homewood, Ala., Kennedy Langham scored 22 points to lead Samford past the Furman women’s basketball team, 74-66.

Samford (14-14, 6-7 SoCon) took advantage of a 28-point third quarter to seize control in the second half. Langham scored 22 of those points.

Furman (14-4, 4-8) placed four players in double figures, led by Niveya Henley with 18 points. Tate Walters finished with 15, Sydney Ryan 12 and Kate Johnson with 10.

The Paladins led, 19-11, after one quarter and, 30-25, at intermission.

Emily Bowman spurred the Bulldogs with 12 points and 19 rebounds.

Samford shot .500 from the field (14/28) over the game’s final 20 minutes while Furman connected on just 10/29 attempts in the second half (.345), finishing the contest at .377 (23/61).

The Bulldogs finished the contest with a 41-38 edge in rebounding.

Furman returns home for its final two games, taking on league regular-season champion Chattanooga on Thursday in a p.m. matchup before facing East Tennessee State in the regular season finale on Saturday at 6.

Take a look at the stats here.

Furman split a softball doubleheader in Conway at Coastal Carolina’s Battle of the Beach, on Saturday, defeating Louisville, 13-8, then falling, 7-3, to Bowling Green.

Furman (8-4) exploded for 13 runs off 15 hits, three of them homers, versus the Cardinals.

First baseman Kiley Perry went 4/5 with two of homers and a school-record seven RBI to power Furman past Louisville. Perry and Hannah Poole belted back-to-back blasts in the top of the sixth inning.

Relief pitcher Emme Buzhardt (1-2) picked up the win despite allowing five runs on six hits over 3-1/3 innings. She replaced starter Sierra Tufts.

Gabby Holloway collected three hits for the Cardinals and took the loss in the circle.

Bowling Green scored seven runs over the first four innings and got a complete-game effort from pitcher Taylor Turner to defeat Furman in the nightcap at Saint John Stadium.

Turner, who improved to 1-1 in the circle, sat down 16 of the final 17 batters she faced to earn the victory.

Furman (8-4) is back in action versus the Falcons on Sunday at noon. Tournament play concludes for the Paladins when they face Coastal Carolina at 2:30 p.m.

Jacksonville State (6-4) won five out of six singles matches on Saturday afternoon to defeat the Furman men’s tennis team, 5-2, at Jax State Tennis Courts in Alabama.
Furman (6-6) started the match by claiming the doubles point following victories at No. 1 and No. 2.

Elijah Poritzky got the Paladins on the board at the No. 1 position when he earned his first victory of the season, winning in straight sets over Alin Fatu, 6-2, 7-5.
Yale (4-0) and Tulsa (4-2) defeated Furman women’s tennis at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala.

No. 22 Texas Tech swept the Paladins, 4-0, in the opening match on Friday.

Furman won (2-8) two doubles matches to take the first point against Tulsa (6-7) in the final round of the tournament. Macy Hitchcock scored a 6-1, 6-1 win No. 6 singles to give the Paladins a 2-0 lead before the Hurricane answered with four singles points.  Four of the six singles matches went to a third set in tight battles.

Furman will travel to Florida for a spring break trip, where the Paladins will play at Florida Atlantic on March 5 at 10 a.m. then square off at North Florida on March 7 at 11 a.m.

Furman won four events Saturday to open the 2024 Southern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship in Lexington, Va.

The Paladin men took the top five spots in the 3,000m. Senior Carson Williams led the squad with a time of 8:12.77 and sophomore Luke Taylor finished second at 8:15.05.

Senior Abigail Robertson won the women’s 3,000m for the second straight year, marking Furman’s fourth consecutive win in the event.

Both Paladin DMR teams won gold on Saturday. The Paladin men’s team of seniors Cameron Ponder and Christian Newman, freshman Chris Knight and senior Dylan Schubert posted a time of 9:55.18, while the women’s relay team of sophomore Camryn Wennersten, juniors Callie Harper, senior Megan Marvin and junior Sierra Bower crossed the line in 11:31.07.  

Four Paladins advanced to Sunday’s 800m finals.  Williams qualified with the second-best time of 1:54.55 in the men’s field.  Marvin led all women with a time of 2:12.14, while Wennersten posted the second-best qualifying time of 2:14.97. Harper also advanced to Sunday’s final after recording a qualifying time of 2:17.48, good for fifth place.  

After the first day of competition, Samford leads the men’s meet with 60 points. Furman sits in second with 43 points, followed bcy VMI in third with 40 points. On the women’s side, Samford scored 59.5 points on day one to take the lead over Wofford, whi sits in second with 46 points.  Furman is in third place with 31 points.

Erin Gulden had a game-high seven points to guide the East Carolina Pirates to an 18-12 victory over the Furman women’s lacrosse team on Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
Gulden and Frances Kimel combined for 13 points to pace the ECU (3-1) offense. Sophie Shaw scored a season high five goals to lead the Paladins (1-3) and finished with six points after dishing out an assist.
Furman is back in action next Saturday, hosting third-ranked James Madison at 11 a.m.

It was great to be back at Timmons Arena. At least one story has been posted for 41 days, a record for the site.

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