PHILADELPHIA – Despite a season-high 20 points from Malaya Johnson, Elon University women’s basketball dropped a 58-56 contest to Drexel inside the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Friday night, Jan. 26.
The Phoenix had its brief two-game winning streak snapped with the loss, falling to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in CAA play. Drexel pushed its winning streak to five in a row and now stands at 15-5 overall and 7-1 in conference action.
THE RUNDOWN
Elon led by 10 at 52-42 with 7:02 to play after a Saadia Munford layup, but Drexel closed the night on a 16-4 run to claim the two-point win. In a back and forth game throughout, the Dragons chipped their way back over the final seven minutes but didn’t take the lead until 3:19 to go on a Hannah Nihill three-pointer.
After two minutes of scoreless basketball, Kelsi Lidge gave Drexel a three-point lead on a layup with 1:13 to play. Though fouled on the play, Lidge missed the ensuing free throw that would’ve made it a two-possession game. On the next possession, Johnson brought Elon within one at 57-56 with a layup. Following a stop on the defensive end, Elon called timeout but the Phoenix turned it over with 12 seconds to go and it fouled with eight seconds left to send Lidge back to the line, where she hit 1-of-2.
Looking to tie the game, Munford drove the lane but had the ball knocked out of her hand out of bounds with 1.1 seconds to play. Under the basket, Munford inbounded to Johnson for a short jumper from the left side, but Johnson’s jumper hit both the front and back rims and rattled out.
Though Drexel opened the game with a three-pointer, Elon answered with a 10-0 run to bring a Dragon timeout. Drexel then battled back down the stretch in the first to ultimately take a 15-14 lead to the second after hitting a free throw with 0.4 seconds left.
Elon again got hot to start the second quarter by going on a 9-2 run to lead 23-17 at the media timeout. But Drexel again came back and finished the final 2:38 of the half on an 8-2 run to tie things at 25-all at halftime.
Drexel built its lead to as many as four midway through the third quarter at 36-32 after a pair of Lidge free throws, but Elon answered nicely with another 10-0 run behind six points from Johnson to lead 42-36. In the final 41 seconds, Lidge brought Drexel back within two with a pair of buckets and Elon led 42-40 after three.
To start the fourth, Elon went on an 8-0 run behind a layup by Shay Burnett and three-pointers from Burnett and Meme Garner to bring a Dragon timeout. Out of the break, the two teams traded buckets with Sara Woods and Munford hitting shots, but Drexel made its run after the Munford layup to complete the comeback.
HIGHLIGHTS
Johnson finished with a game-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting. She also had seven rebounds with two assists in 33 minutes. Burnett was the only other Phoenix to reach double figures, posting 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Both Munford and Jada Graves closed the night with seven points.
Drexel ended with three players in double figures. Lidge led the Dragons with 17 points. She hit 5-of-6 free throws and 5-of-10 from the floor to go with eight rebounds. Both Woods and Bailey Greenberg finished with 11 points while Woods pulled down nine rebounds.
NOTES
-Elon shot 53.2 percent on the night, marking its fourth-best shooting percentage of the season. It’s also the best Elon has shot in CAA play this season.
-In shooting better than 50 percent, it marks the first time Elon has lost when hitting more than 50 percent of its attempts since Feb. 12, 2015, when it shot 55.0 percent (33-for-60) in an 86-82 loss to UNCW.
-The Phoenix outrebounded Drexel 29-28, but the 29 boards are the fewest in a game this year for Elon.
-Elon only shot five free throws, which marks the fewest in a game this year. It’s two fewer than the seven Elon took in a 53-51 loss at Wake Forest on Dec. 2.
-Drexel scored 27 points off Elon’s 20 turnovers. On the flip side, Elon scored just 11 points on 16 DU turnovers.
-Most of Elon’s damage came in the paint, as it scored 40 of its 56 points in close (71.4 percent).
UP NEXT
Elon will take on Towson for the second time in 10 days Sunday afternoon, Jan. 28, when it visits SECU Arena for a 2 p.m. tipoff. The Phoenix defeated the Tigers in Alumni Gym on Friday, Jan. 19, 84-61.