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Southern squares off against Samford in First 4 matchup

Samford Bulldogs (16-18, 9-8 SoCon) vs. Southern Jaguars (19-13, 15-6 SWAC)

Columbia, South Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Jaguars -3.5; over/under is 117.5

BOTTOM LINE: Southern and Samford meet in the NCAA Tournament First Four round.

The Jaguars have gone 15-6 against SWAC opponents, with a 4-7 record in non-conference play. Southern is eighth in the SWAC in rebounding averaging 31.7 rebounds. Jocelyn Tate paces the Jaguars with 5.6 boards.

The Bulldogs are 9-8 against SoCon opponents. Samford ranks eighth in the SoCon with 27.5 rebounds per game led by Emily Bowman averaging 5.3.

Southern’s average of 5.0 made 3-pointers per game is 1.4 fewer made shots on average than the 6.4 per game Samford allows. Samford has shot at a 39.0% rate from the field this season, 0.3 percentage points greater than the 38.7% shooting opponents of Southern have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: DeMya Porter is shooting 52.9% and averaging 9.7 points for the Jaguars. Olivia Delancy is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Kaylee Yarbrough is shooting 41.8% and averaging 12.2 points for the Bulldogs. Francie Morris is averaging 13.8 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Jaguars: 8-2, averaging 65.0 points, 32.0 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 13.1 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 39.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 53.7 points per game.

Bulldogs: 8-2, averaging 62.5 points, 28.2 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 5.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 43.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 56.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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