Elon Heads to Boone to Face SoCon Leading App State

ELON, N.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team starts a three-game road swing on Monday night, Feb. 13, when the Phoenix heads to Boone, N.C., to face Southern Conference leading Appalachian State. Tip is set for 6 p.m. inside the Holmes Convocation Center.

THE SERIES: Monday night marks the 29th all-time meeting between the Phoenix and Mountaineers. ASU leads the series 19-9 and has won the last six meetings. Elon’s last win over Appalachian State was February 9, 2009 in Boone when Urysla Cotton scored 17 points and Amber Wall scored 14 and grabbed 11 boards in a 73-55 Phoenix win. Elon has a 5-8 mark all-time on the road against the Mountaineers.

LEADING SCORERS: On Monday night, the Southern Conference’s top two scorers will go head-to-head with ASU’s Anna Freeman and Elon’s Ali Ford. Freeman is averaging 15.9 points per game and leads the league in free-throw percentage at 88.9 percent. Ford has scored more total points (373) than anyone in the conference, but is just a shade under Freeman’s average at 15.5 points per contest. Ford leads the SoCon in three-pointers made with 75.

LOOKING AHEAD: Following Monday’s game, Elon plays its final two road games of the regular season. The Phoenix heads to Statesboro, Ga., on Saturday to face Georgia Southern before shuffling off to Charleston, S.C., on Monday night, Feb. 20, to take on College of Charleston.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Ali Ford was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week on Feb 7. Ford averaged 22.5 points per game in two Elon wins over Furman and UNCG last week. Ford scored 26 against Furman on Feb. 4 to lead Elon to a 76-58 victory before tallying 19 at UNCG on Monday night in a 69-50 win. It marks Ford’s first career SoCon Player of the Week accolade. Ford is the first Elon player to earn player of the week honors since Kelsey Evans did so on Feb. 1 last season.

ON POINT: Aiesha Harper tied a career high with eight assists in Elon’s win at UNCG on Feb. 6. Harper is currently fourth in the Southern Conference in assists at 4.1 per game. Harper ranks first in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.5.

HOME SWEET HOME: Elon has just two remaining home games this season. The Phoenix hosts Wofford on Feb. 25 before welcoming Western Carolina to Alumni Gym on Feb. 27 for Senior Night and the final home contest for Aiesha Harper, Erica Keto, Kallie Hovatter and Jermile’ Batten.

ELITE COMPANY: Ali Ford moved into fifth all-time in scoring at UNCG on Feb. 6, passing former Elon great Holly Andrews. Ford now sits at 1,436 career points and is 23 shy of passing Elon Hall of Famer Donna Trollinger for fourth in program history. Including Trollinger, three of the four players ahead of Ford in scoring are in the Elon Hall of Fame (Trollinger, Lou Williamson and Venessa Corbett). Ford became Elon’s all-time three-point leader on Jan. 28 and the Southern Conference’s all-time leader from beyond the arc on Dec. 29.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Elon has held its opponent to 50 or fewer points in six of its victories this season. The Phoenix accomplished that feat four times all of last season.

ROAD TO ASHEVILLE: The 2012 Southern Conference Tournament is scheduled for March 2-5 in Asheville, N.C. Kimmel Arena will play host to the first round and quarterfinal games on March 2-3 before the tournament shifts to the Asheville Civic Center for the semifinals and championship on March 4-5.