SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team (7-7, 4-1 SoCon) won its third game in five days tonight, Jan. 9, with a 67-57 win at Wofford (5-7, 0-4 SoCon) in Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Phoenix had four players finish in double figures, while the defense forced 21 turnovers.
“It feels great to play a WNBA schedule and be able to come out with three wins,” said Elon head coach Charlotte Smith. “We call our defense piranhas and we talk about that before every game. We want to be relentless out there. You can control defense and that’s how we’re going to win games. We earn these wins by committee and we did a good job of sharing the ball tonight.”
Elon made 22-of-58 from the field to shoot almost 40 percent with 32 points coming in the paint. The Phoenix made a season-high 21 free throws off 24 attempts to finish 87 percent from the charity stripe.
Kelsey Evans led the scoring effort for the maroon and gold with 12 points, while Sam Coffer posted a season-high 11 points. Ali Ford and Kelsey Harris contributed 10 points each.
Elon won the rebounding battle, 39-37, with the help of seven rebounds from both Evans and Harris.
The Terriers shot 34 percent from the field, including 40 percent from three-point territory. Wofford’s Morgan Wrightson posted a game-high 23 points, making 8-of-17 field goal attempts.
After starting the game on an 8-2 run, Elon took its largest lead of the game, 23-12, off a jumper by Lauren Hudson at the 9:05 mark. Wofford cut the Elon lead to three, 25-22, before Coffer finished off a three-point play with a free throw to extend the advantage back to six, 28-22.
With Elon leading by 10, 34-24, the Terriers managed to finish the first frame on a 6-0 run with a three at the buzzer to make it a 34-30 game at half.
Wofford maintained the momentum into the second half and took its first lead of the game, 42-40, with 15:06 to play. The maroon and gold answered with a three by Zora Stephenson to regain the lead. From there, Elon used a 9-4 run to go up by six, 52-46, after two good free throws by Autumn Carter.
A three by Wofford’s Rachel Brittenham at the 6:33 mark, made it a three-point game, 52-49, but a jumper by Harris as the shot clock ran down gave the Phoenix the five-point edge.
With 1:38 remaining in the game and Elon holding the same advantage of five, 60-55, the Terriers were forced to foul sending Ford to the line twice. The senior made all four free throws to help seal the victory for the Phoenix.
Elon will have a few days before it takes on local conference opponent UNCG on Monday, Jan. 14. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym.