It’s basketball season. Most citizens are thinking of the election. Rightly so. National elections don’t happen every year. Thank the Lord.
The men’s team is at home against Columbia International, an NAIA school, at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. It tips off at 7 p.m. Returns start trickling in early from Orangeburg, where the women play South Carolina State at 5:30.
The Paladins capped the preseason last Sunday with an 83-62 loss to No. 11 Auburn in a charity exhibition contest at the Well. Graduate transfer Nick Anderson paced the Paladins with 19 points. Junior Ben VanderWal scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, while junior transfer Charles Johnston added 12 points.

Furman returns nine players from last season’s squad, including four with at least 10 starts. Picked fifth in preseason polling of the Southern Conference’s head coaches, the Paladins return preseason All-SoCon selection PJay Smith Jr., along with forwards Garrett Hien, Tyrese Hughey and VanderWal.
Over the past seven seasons under head coach Bob Richey, Furman has posted a 156-70 overall record, an 88-35 SoCon mark and five 20-win seasons. The Paladins claimed the 2023 SoCon regular season and tournament titles before shocking No. 4 seed Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last season’s team went 17-16 and finished in a tie for fourth place in the SoCon at 10-8.
Bon Secours Wellness Arena is home-away-from-home for the Paladins this season while Timmons Arena is undergoing a $40 million renovation. Furman sports a 9-9 all-time record at the Well, including three straight regular-season victories.
Monday’s match-up can be heard on The Fan Upstate at 97.7 FM and 1330 AM in Greenville, 97.1 FM and 1490 AM in Spartanburg, and via the Audacy app. This game is unavailable via the ESPN+ streaming platform.

Meanwhile, SHM Memorial Center in Orangeburg is the site of the women’s opener versus the Bulldogs of the MEAC.
This year marks the 51st season of women’s basketball at Furman and second thunder head coach Pierre Curtis, who posted a 15-16 record in his first year at the helm following 10 years as a Paladin assistant coach.
Furman, a preseason third-place pick in the poll of Southern Conference head coaches, returns nine veteran players off last year’s squad, including a trio of preseason all-conference performers in graduate guard Tate Walters (10.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 107 assists) and senior forwards Jada Session (12.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and Kate Johnson (11.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg).

Walters, who returned successfully a year ago after missing the 2022-23 season due to a torn Achilles tendon, enters the season with 334 career assists, which ranks ninth in program history. With 869 career points, she’s on track to become the 27th player to join Furman’s 1,000-point club.

Session earned second-team All-SoCon honors a year ago after posting starts in all 31 games and ranking seventh in the league in scoring and third in rebounding.

Johnson, meanwhile, fashioned a breakout campaign in 2023-24, increasing her scoring and rebounding numbers in dramatic fashion while topping the league in field goal percentage (.601) en route to landing second team all-conference.
Other key returnees include redshirt junior guard Niveya Henley (10.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg), who also bounced back after missing the 2022-23 season due to injury, junior forward Sydney Ryan (10.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, .386 3PFG%), and redshirt junior guard Jaelyn Acker (4.4 ppg, 0.9 rpg).

Furman boasted excellent offensive balance a year ago with five double-figure scorers, all of whom return.
Notable additions to this year’s squad include graduate transfer guard Bella LaChance from Vanderbilt and five freshmen, among whom are former Wren High School standout guard Raina McGowens and guard Chantelle Stuart from Toronto, Canada.
The Paladins lead the all-time series with S.C. State, 6-2, and have won the last five clashes, including a 67-43 verdict last year in Greenville that featured a 12-point performance by Johnson and an 11-point, nine-rebound effort by Session.

Furman tips off its home campaign on Thursday when its plays host to Erskine in a 7 p.m. contest at North Greenville University’s Hayes Gymnasium, which will serve as the primary home court for the Paladins this season.
The Paladins are scheduled to play 10 of their 12 home games in 2024-45 at Hayes Gymnasium, as well as two contests — UNC Greensboro (Jan.18) and Wofford (Feb. 8) — at the Well.

Samford’s Samantha De Luca scored with 2:03 left in regulation to lift the second-seeded Bulldogs to a 1-0 victory over No. 3 seed Furman in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Women’s Soccer Championship on Sunday in Homewood, Ala.
The victory propelled Samford (11-6-3) into the championship match next weekend at No. 1 Western Carolina, which punched its ticket with a 2-0 win over No. 5 seed Chattanooga on Sunday. Furman concluded its 2024 season at 10-7-3.

With the match scoreless and less than 2:30 remaining, Samford won the ball in the midfield and Hanna Himes sent a pass ahead to De Luca. The forward headed the ball past her defender into open space on the left side of the box before placing a left-footed strike into the right-hand side netting for the decisive goal.
“I’m proud of our team and their effort today and throughout the season,” said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. “We had to come play a tough opponent on their home field without a couple of our veteran leaders and then we lost Tara Katz in the first 10 minutes, but this group kept fighting. We improved throughout the season and put ourselves in position to contend.”

Freshman goalkeeper Reese DeJong stopped five shots on the day, including four in the second half. Peyton Hull also recorded five saves for the Bulldogs.
Men’s tennis concluded the fall season at the Wake Forest Invite in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Freshman Theophile Joly won the singles flight C2 consolation draw. He defeated UNC Greensboro’s Devon Moskowitz, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in round two, then beat Dung Em Oliver Dao of Tennessee Tech, 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the consolation final.

In singles flight D, freshman Sam Fancutt posted a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Alex Amacher of Georgia Southern.
The Paladins picked up two doubles victories at the tournament. In flight C, senior John Rado and Joly teamed up to beat Lance Cochrane and Peter Glenn of UNC Charlotte, 7-5, while freshman Nicolas Dispas and senior Cole Burnam topped Aditya Vyas and Ariel Zauber of Wake Forest, 6-3, in flight B2.
Furman will open the 2025 spring season in January.
Seniors Sara Snyder and Ellie Schulson won the doubles flight one championship to lead the Paladin women’s tennis team at North Florida’s UNF Fall Invite in Jacksonville, Fla.

Snyder and Schulson teamed up for three victories in the top flight, taking down Isabel Oliveira and Nicole Alfaro of UNF, 6-4, in the opening match, then squeaking past MaryBoyce Deatherage and Maelie Monfils of Florida State, 7-6(5) in round two. In Saturday’s final round, the Paladin duo defeated UCF’s Donatella Guarnieri and Jade Psonka, 6-1, for the title.
Senior Jess Dawson and sophomore Macy Hitchcock beat North Florida’s Anslee Long and Laurie Barendse, 6-1, in round one of flight two, then defeated Indiana’s Magdalena Swierczynska and Marina Fuduric, 6-1, to finish third in the flight.

Senior Alexa Griffith teamed with Gargi Pawar of South Florida in doubles, posting a 7-6 (6) advantage over Gabriella Goyins and Jasmin Makela of North Florida.
In singles, Griffith picked up two wins. She posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Pawar of South Florida, then downed Jordan Parker of Southern Miss, 6-3, 6-2, both in flight E. In flight C, Dawson came from behind to beat North Florida’s Long, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, and in flight D, Hitchcock defeated UCF’’s Guarnieri, 6-3, 6-3.

The Paladins open the spring season in January.

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