GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior guard Lucy Mason (Stone Mountain, Ga./Chamblee Charter) scored her 1,000 career point in the first half but the UNCG women's basketball team dropped its first conference game to Samford, 62-56, Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gymnasium.

The Spartans fall to 5-11 overall and are 0-1 in the SoCon. Samford improves to 8-8, 1-0 in conference play with the road victory. The Bulldogs improved to 10-4 all-time against UNCG.

The Blue and Gold finished shooting 30 percent on 18-of-60 from the field. UNCG was stellar from the free throw line hitting 17-of-22 attempts. The Spartans won the battle of the boards pulling down 43 rebounds to Samford's 37 and came away with eight steals.

Mason became the 24^th Spartan to score 1,000 career points after hitting the mark on a layup in the first half. Mason finished with a game high 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting with three assists and three steals.

Sophomore Bailey Williams (Harrisonburg, Va./Spotswood) earned her first career double-double scoring 14 points (5-of-10) with 10 rebounds and hit three from downtown. Classmate Jade Scaife (Fort Washington, Md./Archbishop Spalding) went 7-for-8 from the free throw line to finish with nine points and five rebounds.

In the first half, Samford took a seven-point lead into halftime leading 28-21. The Spartans took an early 7-3 lead off a jumper from sophomore Mariah Wilson (Atlanta, Ga./North Atlanta) at the 15:36 mark.

The Bulldogs responded with a 15-6 run to take an 18-13 lead off a layup from Lydia McGee with just under nine minutes left in the period. Hannah Nichols would push the advantage to seven on a layup with 6:42 remaining to make the score 20-13.

Each team with score eight points each as Samford would lead 28-21 at halftime. Williams led the team with eight points.

In the second half, Samford would hold its largest lead at 42-29 coming out of halftime with a 14-8 spurt off a jumper from Taylor Reece at the 13:51 mark.

With under 10 minutes left, the Bulldogs led 46-35 off a jumper from Krista Stricklin. UNCG would answer with a 6-0 run capped by a layup from Williams to make the score 46-41 with 6:39 left in the game.

Senior guard Jessica Collins (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield/Eckerd College) went 4-for-4 at the free throw line to cut the lead to 54-51 with 1:44 remaining but Lydia McGee responded with two made free throws to push the lead back to 56-51. Samford would go 8-of-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to pull out the road victory over UNCG.  

UNCG returns home Monday, Jan. 12 to face Mercer at 7 p.m. at Fleming Gymnasium.