The women’s basketball bracket at the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville, N.C., was a brief encounter for Furman.

The Paladins won their women’s tennis match over North Florida in Jacksonville.

A Furman runner is competing at the NCAA Meet in Boston. The start was moved up a day for women’s golf in Georgia, the state where the Paladins are playing in a softball tournament, as well.

Furman’s assistant men’s tennis coach was named as one of the nation’s finest.

It’s business as usual as winter gives way to spring.

Furman shot itself in the foot – certainly not in the baskets – in Thursday’s quarterfinal loss to UNC Greensboro, whose defense undoubtedly played a role in the Paladins being bounced from the Ingles Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, N.C., 64-44, on Thursday afternoon.

It wasn’t unexpected. The Spartans are the second seed; the Paladins exited as the seventh.

Harrah’s Cherokee Center was a chamber of horrors for Furman shooters.

Furman (15-16) hit 16/57 (.281) from the field, 4/16 (.250) from beyond the arc and 8/18 (.444) from the foul line.

Normally one must attend a range to find so many misfires.

Still, the Paladins won four more games in Pierre Curtis’s first season at the helm.

Reliable guard Tate Walters was the only Furman player in double figures. She scored 18 points, honing in on 5/13 shots overall and 5/10 free throws but 3/5 triples.

UNCG (20-10) got 16 points from Ayann Khalfani,15 from both Jayde Gamble and Antoinette Emma-Nnopu and 11 from Isys Grady.

The Spartans shot .429 (27/63) from the field, .176 (3/17) for three and .500 (7/14) at the foul line while outrebounding the Paladins, 46-39.

Jada Session led Furman on the glass with 10 rebounds while hitting only 2/12 shots. Emma-Nnopu snagged 10 boards for UNCG. Furman’s Sydney James grabbed nine rebounds.

With the victory UNCG, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, advances into Friday’s semifinals to face Wofford.

Limited to only seven-second quarter points, Furman’s offensive struggles continued in the third period as the Paladins connected on just 3/14 shots. The Spartans took a 46-33 lead.

Tate Walters’ two free throws with 6:45 to go cut UNCG’s lead to 50-39, but the Paladins could not shave it to single digits the rest of the way.

Take a look at the stats here.

Senior Carson Williams runs at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, at the The Track at New Balance, in Boston, Mass., on Friday and Saturday.  

Williams will compete along with 15 other athletes in the men’s mile semifinal Friday at 4 p.m., with the mile finals slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday. 

A native of Raleigh, N.C., Williams ranks 16th nationally with a time of 3:55.46 in the event, a Furman program record that he posted Jan. 19 at the Carolina Challenge in Columbia. Williams, who also recorded a sub-4:00 mile last season, most recently won the 3,000m title and finished second in the 800 meters at the SoCon Indoor Championship. Last season he was honored as an All-American for the second straight outdoor season after placing 11th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA championships. 

Brandon Tucker, Furman men’s soccer’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, was honored by Top Drawer Soccer as one of NCAA Division I’s top assistant coaches this week.

Tucker, who received the title of associate head coach in April 2023 and recently completed his seventh season at Furman, was one of seven Division I assistants recognized as “coaches to know” on TopDrawerSoccer.com.

The Englewood, Colo., native has helped Furman claim a pair of Southern Conference regular-season titles during his time in Greenville and helped the Paladins capture the 2018 SoCon tournament crown.

Tucker has helped Furman land top 40 recruiting classes in each of the last four years. The 2024 class is rated No. 20 nationally by the website. 

A former forward for the Colorado Rapids, Tucker earned all-region honors three times as a player at Presbyterian before later serving as an assistant coach and associate head coach for the Blue Hose.

Furman softball (10-9) is off to Athens to compete in the University of Georgia’s Bulldog Classic.

The Paladins open the weekend at 1:30 p.m. on Friday versus Jacksonville (Ala.) State (7-13) and faces the Gamecocks again on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The Paladins face Miami (Ohio) at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday before concluding the weekend with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday versus No. 6 Georgia.

Miami (Ohio) (13-3) has lost only to Ole Miss, Clemson and top-ranked Oklahoma.

Georgia (15-3) has scored victories over UCLA, Florida State, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Cal during the first month of the season.

Due to predicted inclement weather for Saturday, the Furman women’s’ golf team will begin play Friday at the Valspar Augusta (Ga.) Invitational.

The tournament will begin with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start on Friday.  Teams will play until dark or the conclusion of round two then return to the course on Sunday to attempt to finish the tournament’s 54 holes. Furman will tee off on in a group with Augusta and Oklahoma State. 

The Paladins are joined in the 73-team field by host Augusta, No. 32 Alabama, No. 12 Auburn, 16th-ranked Clemson, Coastal Carolina, No. 21 Florida State, 28th-ranked Georgia, Georgia Southern, Louisville, Michigan, No. 14 Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, fifth-ranked South Carolina, No. 39 South Florida, Virginia Tech and No. 1 Wake Forest.

Furman scored four singles points to cruise past North Florida, 4-2, Thursday at the UNF Tennis Complex in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Ospreys (5-6) won the top two doubles matches to claim the opening point. 

In singles, Maeve Thornton quickly blew past Snitko, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 2 to put the Paladins (3-9) on the board, then Macy Hitchcock bested Anslee Long, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 5. The Ospreys’ Amy Kaplan tied the match at 2-all with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Sara Snyder at No.1, Furman sealed the victory with wins at Nos. 3-4.  Ellie Schulson posted a 6-2, 7-5, victory over Kendall Nash at No. 3, then Thomas secured the match by holding off Alisa Lyshko, 6-3, 7-6(5), at No. 4.  

Furman hosts Wake Forest Sunday at 11 a.m. at Mickel Tennis Center.

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