Elon WBB Cruises to 93-47 Victory Over King

ELON, N.C. – Elon women’s basketball closed the nonconference slate strong with a convincing 93-47 victory over King College inside Alumni Gym on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

BOX SCORE

“We talked about finishing the calendar year strong and I thought we did that,” said Elon head coach Charlotte Smith. “I’m excited everybody was able to play and score. That gives us a lot of mental energy going into conference play and really pleased with things we saw on both ends of the floor.”

The Phoenix (8-4) had four players score in double figures in the game and every player on the roster scored in the 46-point win. Jenifer Rhodes led Elon with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. She also pulled down six rebounds and had three blocks. Maddie McCallie shattered her season-high with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-for-4 from three-point land. Jada Graves notched 12 points and pulled four steals while Ra’Shika White scored 11 points and missed a double-double by one rebound. She also had three blocks in the victory.

King (7-3) was led by 12 points by Amy Van Deventer off the bench. She also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Only three players, including Van Deventer, scored more than five points Wednesday for the Tornado.

Elon’s 93-point outburst is the ninth-highest total in a single game in program history and second-most of the Charlotte Smith era at Elon. It marks the most since scoring 105 points on Nov. 18, 2011, against Virginia Intermont, just the second game as head coach at Elon for Smith.

The Rundown
Early on, Elon and King went back and forth until the Phoenix owned a 15-10 lead with 2:59 to go in the opening quarter. From there, Elon went on a 7-2 run to end the quarter and continued the run throughout the second quarter in going up 39-15 on the Tornado with 3:05 to go in the first half. In all, Elon’s run was a 24-5 stretch and the Phoenix never looked back from there.

Leading by 10 at 22-12 after the first quarter, Elon went on to outscore King 47-17 across the second and third quarters. Elon’s 48 first-half points are the most in a half thus far this year for the Phoenix. The previous best came in the season opener at Green Bay when Elon scored 47 points in the second half.

Elon shot better than 41 percent in each of the four quarters Wednesday night, including a 72.7 percent clip in the second quarter on the way to shooting 53.1 percent for the game. The figure is the second-best shooting night for the Phoenix this season, topped only by a 53.7 percent game against East Tennessee State on Dec. 17 in a win that started Elon’s current four-game winning streak.

Notes
– The freshman duo of Madison Wilder and Lexi Mercer set new career highs in the win. Wilder scored seven points and Mercer notched six.
– McCallie’s previous season high in points was three points on three occasions against Eastern Washington, Duke and ETSU.
-To go with her 12 points, Graves’ four steals set a new career-best for the freshman.
-Elon had 12 blocks in the victory. The mark doubles the previous season-high thus far and is the most in a game since recording 17 in a 50-38 win over ETSU on Nov. 29, 2015.
-The four-game winning streak is the second of the season for Elon. The Phoenix won four-straight games after dropping the opener at Green Bay.

Up Next
The Phoenix will open CAA action on Monday night, Jan. 2, inside Alumni Gym against College of Charleston. Opening tip is set for 7 p.m.