BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Shorter women's basketball team played its final exhibition game Monday night, and fell to NCAA Division I Samford University 66-56.

In the opening period, the Lady Hawks jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead as Denise Newton converted twice from beyond the arc, while Brittany Greene and Kayla Tillie also made jumpers. Despite leading by six, the Bulldogs of Samford closed the quarter on an 11-2 run, allowing only SU's Roni Richardson to score. At the end of the first, the Bulldogs led by three, 15-12

The Lady Hawks led twice in the second quarter, once after a layup by Taylor Adams and again after a pair of free throws by Tillie. After Tillie's free throws, Adams hit another layup to give SU a three-point lead, its largest of the quarter, but the Bulldogs would go on a run over their own. Over the final 7:20 of the half, Samford used a 20-8 run to take a 40-31 lead into the locker-room. The Bulldogs largest lead of the quarter was 12 but free throws from Richardson cut the home team's advantage to nine at the intermission.

Samford held a slight advantage in first-half field goal percentage, shooting 55.6% compared to 47.6% for Shorter.

After the Bulldogs opened the third quarter with a basket, Adams put the Lady Hawks on the board and cut the deficit to 11, 44-33. With 4:26 to go, Newton's third 3-pointer of the game, this time off a pass from Greene, cut the deficit to 10. Ten points was the closest the deficit would get in the quarter and Samford eventually jumped out to a 13-point advantage, but a free throw by Raven Fair made the score 53-41 in favor of the Bulldogs after three periods.

Just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter Tillie hit a three, making Samford's lead less than ten points for the first time since 9:49 to go in the third. After a Samford bucket, Richardson answered with a 3-pointer of her own, pulling the Lady Hawks within eight, 55-47, with 8:59 to play.

Later in the quarter, after the Bulldogs lead hit 10, a 3-pointer by Fair cut the lead to seven.  After a Samford basket, a conversion from beyond the arc by Greene made the score 60-54, but over the next 2:56, the Bulldogs scored four unanswered points to push its lead to double-digits. Adams' jumper with 1:46 to play cut the lead to eight, but in the end the Lady Hawks could not cut into the lead any further and fell by ten, 66-56.

Adams led Shorter with 14 points, while Tillie, Newton, and Richardson also scored in double figures. Hannah Nichols led Samford with 25 points.

The Lady Hawks shot 18 of 46 from the floor, while the Bulldogs hit 25 of their 51 attempts.

Shorter will officially open the season on Friday when they travel to Florida for a crossover with the Sunshine State Conference. First up, the Lady Hawks will take on No. 6 Florida Southern, with the game set to tipoff at 12 noon EST.