Elon Women’s Basketball Visits Samford in Regular Season Finale

ELON, N.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team looks to close out the regular season with a win on the road at Samford on Sunday, March 2. Tip is set for 3 p.m. (EST) in the Pete Hanna Center.

Elon (13-15, 9-8) at Samford (10-18, 8-9)
Date: Sunday, March 2
Time: 3 p.m. (EST)
Site: Birmingham, Ala. (Pete Hanna Center)
Series: Samford leads, 9-5
Last Meeting: Dec. 14, 2013, in Elon, N.C. – Elon won, 71-61
Radio: WSOE – 89.3 FM – Matt Krause will have the call
Twitter Updates: @ElonScores

Last Time Out
The Phoenix played a tight first half with league-leader Chattanooga on Friday, trailing by only two at the half, but could not keep up in the second half as the Lady Mocs won 69-55. Jenifer Rhodes led the Phoenix with 16 points off eight field goals and posted eight rebounds. Kelsey Harris finished with 10 points after a 6-for-7 performance from the charity stripe, while Lauren Brown tied a career-high with seven assists.

Scouting the Bulldogs
Samford is 10-18 on the season with an 8-9 mark in conference play after a 68-57 win over UNCG on Friday. The Bulldogs had won six of eight games prior to back-to-back losses to Furman and Chattanooga. Samford took the league leader Lady Mocs into two overtimes before suffering a 74-67 setback. The team leads the league in three-pointers made per game (6.2) with Hannah Nichols holding a 39.3 percentage in three-point shooting. Christy Robinson leads the team in scoring with 9.6 points/game, while Nichols hauls down the most boards with 4.0 rebounds per game.

The Series
The Bulldogs own the all-time series between the two schools, 9-5. However, Elon has won three of the last four contests, including a 71-61 victory earlier this season in Alumni Gym. The Bulldogs won the meeting last year in the Pete Hanna Center, 69-59, before the teams met again in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament.

NCAA Rankings
The NCAA released its latest set of rankings on Feb. 28 and Elon finds itself ranked fifth nationally in three-point field goal percentage with a 38.8 percent mark from beyond the arc (first in the league) and 18th in blocked shots per game (5.3/game).

If The Season Ended Today…
Elon would earn the fourth seed in the 2014 Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament. The fourth seed is set to play the fifth seed, which would be Appalachian State at this point, on Saturday, March 8, at 2:15 p.m. in Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C.

Looking Ahead
Sunday’s game is the last of the regular season for the Phoenix. Next up is the SoCon Tournament, which is set to begin on Friday, March 7. The top six teams will either get a bye or wait to play its first game until Saturday, March 8.