HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A dominant individual offensive performance was too much to overcome as Alabama A&M (0-3, 0-0 SWAC) dropped a 75-68 decision to Samford (0-3, 0-0 SoCon) in an NCAA Division I women's basketball game on Thursday, November 17.
 
Graduate guard Toni Grace (Fishers, Ind.) lit it up for 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-11 from the foul line and added five boards, three assists and a pair of steals to pace the Bulldogs.
 
Sophomore guard Amiah Simmons (Osawatomie, Kan.) followed her with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting and graduate forward Amani Free (Clay, N.Y.) and junior guard Taylor Smith (Fosters, Ala.) rounded out the top performers with nine and eight points, respectively.
 
A&M would explode out of the gate as they took a 10-2 lead over the first 3:48 before a three by Andrea Cournoyer and layup by Rylie Stephens cut it to 12-8 behind a 6-2 run. A pair of free throws from Grace and a jumper by Samford's Carly Heidger made it 14-10 at the end of one frame.
 
From there the clubs would be separated by no more than four points the entire second period with A&M maintaining the lead up until a 6-2 SU burst flipped the script and put them ahead 30-29 with 1:39 left in the half. A traditional three-point play by Grace then brought it back to a 32-30 Alabama A&M lead at the break.
 
Cournoyer would simply take over in the third, however, scoring 10 of the first 16 points to knot it up at 40-40 by the 5:45 mark. She would go on to add a three-point play and another bucket to finish with 15 points in the quarter and put Samford up 54-51 heading to the fourth.
 
Following a jumper by Grace to cut it to one to start the period Samford would impose their will and expand a 58-55 lead at 8:03 and build it to a 67-57 advantage with 5:11 remaining. That margin would eventually grow to 11 at 71-60 before a 6-0 burst behind three different scorers cut it to a five-point spread. Cournoyer would then knock down three of four foul shots to help salt away the 75-68 victory.
 
Cournoyer would do the damage for SU as she erupted for an impressive 37 points on 13-of-18 shooting, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 7-of-10 at the foul line. She also notched five boards, three steals and dished out seven assists. She was joined by Sussy Ngulefac with a near double-double of nine points, eight caroms and three assists and Heidger with 10 points. Stephens rounded out the top performers with nine points and four boards on the night.

Alabama A&M now hits the road to take on neighboring North Alabama on Tuesday, November 22.Game time is set for 6 p.m. in Florence, Alabama.

FULL GAME VIDEO

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