At the moment, in basketball, the Furman women are outshining the men.

Alyssa Ervin scored 20 points and Furman used strong work in the second and third quarters to forge a big lead en route to a 60-51 win over Western Carolina in at Ramsey Center in Cullowhee on Thursday night.
Furman (15-10, 7-3 SoCon) maintained its hold on second place in the SoCon along with Wofford.  The win completed the Paladins’ regular-season sweep of Western Carolina (3-21, 0-10) and made Furman 17-1 in its last 18 games with the Catamounts.
Furman trailed 10-9 after a quarter but took control in the second period, outscoring Western Carolina 20-9 in the frame to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.
Ervin scored Furman’s first nine points of the second half, part of an 11-2 run that she capped with an assist on a Clare Coyle basket that stretched the Paladins’ advantage to 41-21 at the 5:37 mark.
The Paladins’ led by as many as 22 on three occasions in the third quarter and enjoyed a 52-33 advantage heading to the fourth period.
Ervin’s performance was made possible by 7/15 shooting from the field, including 3/7 work from three-point range.  The sophomore guard from Galax, Va., also converted 3/4 free throws and added four rebounds, along with a block and a steal.
She was joined in double figures by Coyle, who contributed 11 points along with nine rebounds.
Furman combined to connect on 15/26 shots from the field and 6/8 treys in the decisive second and third quarters.
For the game the Paladins shot .392 from the field (20/51) and .389 from three-point range (7/18).
Ally Hollifield paced Western Carolina with 15 points.
Furman finished with a 37-30 rebounding advantage.
The Paladins play at UNC Greensboro on Saturday in a 2 p.m. game.

Take a look at the stats here.

Furman looks to halt a three-game skid when the Paladins visit Virginia Military in men’s basketball Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Va.

Tipoff at Cameron Hall is at 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to Dan Scott and Tom Van Hoy call the action 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. 

The Paladins slipped to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in league play when they suffered their third consecutive loss, a 69-64 verdict, at Mercer on Wednesday night. Furman led throughout most of the game before the Bears pulled ahead in the final seven minutes and held off the Paladins to earn a split of the regular season series.

Asa Thomas led Furman with 14 points while Cooper Bowser and Charles Johnston scored 11 apiece. Tim House scored 10 points to give the Paladins four players in double figures. Mercer controlled the boards, 44-37, and managed a 30-26 edge in points in the paint to improve to 12-0 at home this season.

Furman is going for a season sweep of VMI (6-20, 1-12) on Saturday after scoring a 69-48 win over the Keydets in the previous meeting this season, Jan. 10 in Greenville. Alex Wilkins and Eddrin Bronson led Furman with 17 and 16 points, respectively, in the first meeting and the Paladins held VMI to .268 shooting.

Saturday’s game marks the 112^th meeting between the Paladins and Keydets with Furman holding a 73-38 series advantage. VMI captured a 91-82 decision in last season’s encounter at Cameron Hall.

Furman earned an 8-17, 10-4 split of its first home doubleheader of the season on Thursday night versus Bowling Green to secure Mary Beth Dennison’s first win as Paladin head coach.

 Bowling Green took advantage of 13 walks and 11 hits on its way to a 17-8 win over Furman in the opening game of the Purple & White Classic.

 The Falcons scored two or more runs in four consecutive innings to offset a five-run bottom of the third by the Paladins. Ashley Chevalier went 3/4 with six RBI and Cameron Kaufman and Kendall Mathews homered to power the Falcon offense.

 Bowling Green got two runs in the second inning and led 7-1 going to the bottom of the third before Kate Stoltzfus’ three-run homer and an RBI double from Meghan Shirey highlighted a five-run bottom of the third for the Paladins. Chevalier’s two-run base hit opened up the Bowling Green lead to 9-6 in the fourth and Kaufman slugged a two-run homer the following frame to give BGSU an 11-6 edge.

Furman trimmed the deficit to 11-8 on Rachel Hawkins two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, but the Falcons responded with six runs in the seventh to put the game away.

Kristyn Embler tossed a complete game to earn her first career win in the circle and Christina McCoy drove in four runs to propel Furman to a 10-4 victory over Bowling Green (3-1) in game two.

Embler (1-3) allowed four runs on nine hits over seven innings and struck out six Bowling Green batters to earn the victory.

Sylvia Burroughs put the Paladins in front with a two-run single in the bottom of the first, and Stoltzfus followed a two-run top half of the second by the Falcons with an RBI base hit in the bottom of the frame to put Furman back in front. After Bowling Green knotted the game in the top of the third, McCoy put the Paladins in front for good with a three-run blast to right-center to give Furman a 6-3 lead.

 The Paladins (1-7) took advantage of two Falcon errors in the fourth to plate two more runs and back-to-back doubles from Hawkins and McCoy in the fifth upped the margin to 9-3. Katie Peeler hammered her third home run of the season and second of the week in the bottom of the sixth to extend the Paladin advantage to 10-3.

Mississippi State stifled Furman, 6-1, Thursday at Mickel Tennis Center.

Freshman Sasha Dimitrov scored for the Paladins at flight three singles, where she split sets, 6-3, 5-7, with Chiara Di Genova before winning the tiebreaker, 10-5.

Furman (3-3) entertains Memphis Sunday at 11 a.m.

Men’s tennis continues its 10-match road trip this weekend, traveling to Conway to face Coastal Carolina and William & Mary in a pair of non-conference matches at Stevens Tennis Complex.
The Paladins begin the weekend on Friday afternoon taking on Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. Furman then faces William & Mary Saturday afternoon at noon.
The Paladins (1-4) started off their road trip on Feb. 5 with a 7-0 loss at North Carolina.

The Big South and Southern conferences are playing a two-year basketball scheduling series beginning in 2026-27 that will feature 18 men’s games and 18 women’s matchups played on selected dates each season.Schools will play one home game and one road game against different opponents, and the contests would be in addition to any current agreement in place between two institutions.

The men’s game dates are currently scheduled for Nov. 18 and 21, 2026, and Nov. 17 and 20, 2027, with the women’s dates slated for Nov. 21 and Dec. 2, 2026, and Nov. 20 and Dec. 1, 2027, unless both teams agree to a change of date.  Opponent location would not repeat from 2026-27 to 2027-28, although some teams may be matched with the same opponent from one year to the next (but not guaranteed to do so).

“All matchups and game dates will be determined by mutual agreement of both Commissioners. athletic directors and basketball coaches continue to be proactive in addressing one of college basketball’s most persistent challenges — Division I non-conference scheduling.  This alliance with the Big South reflects a shared commitment to providing our student-athletes with competitive geographically aligned scheduling opportunities that strengthen our programs and give fans the quality matchups they seek,” said SoCon Commissioner Michael Cross.  “By partnering with the Big South, we’re taking a proactive approach to solving scheduling problems while creating games that will generate excitement across both leagues.  This is exactly the kind of collaborative solution basketball needs and we’re looking forward to a longstanding partnership.”

For the men’s annual series, opponents will not be determined until after the transfer portal closes but no later than May 31 prior to the upcoming season.  The Big South and SoCon offices will utilize predictive analytics to determine the best matchups heading into the season, including teams to be matched up primarily according to projected NET ranking for the upcoming year. Whenever possible, secondary consideration will be given to matching up teams according to geographic proximities.

For the women’s yearly series, opponents will be determined no later than April prior to a season.  Primary consideration will be given to match up teams to avoid air travel, with secondary consideration given to matching up teams according to NET ranking to create competitive matchups where possible.

Men’s golf opens the spring season Saturday and Sunday at the 49th Gators Invitational at the par 70, 6,701-yard Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. 

Furman’s lineup for the tournament includes senior Harris Barth, senior Zach Frazer, senior Clark Akers, freshman Benton Manly and freshman Cameron Reed.

The Paladins will be joined in the 18-team field by host Florida, which ranks 10enth nationally, No. 2 Auburn, 20th-ranked Charlotte, Chattanooga, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia Southern, Indiana, Jacksonville, Liberty, No. 21 Notre Dame, 12th-ranked Oklahoma State, Penn State, UCF, North Florida, South Florida and West Virginia.

Indoor track and field competes at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center.  On Saturday, select members of the Paladin men’s team will run at the Asics Sound Invite at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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