Second-Half Threes Lift Elon WBB to 76-65 Win at Northeastern

BOSTON – After missing all eight attempted three-pointers in the first half, Elon University women’s basketball found its touch from long range early in the second half and pulled away from Northeastern for a 76-65 road victory in Cabot Center on Friday, Jan. 27.

BOX SCORE

Slumping from long distance in the first half, Elon missed the first attempted three-pointer of the second half early in the third quarter but went on a stretch of making six of the next seven and pulled away from the Huskies early in the fourth quarter. At the time of the first three, Elon lead by four. After the sixth long ball, the Phoenix led by 13 at 62-49.

Shay Burnett paced the Phoenix with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. She also had seven assists and seven rebounds in the win. Meme Garner scored nine big points in the second half and finished with a career-high 13 points while Jenifer Rhodes got back in double figures for the fourth time in the last five games with 12 points on 6-for-13 from the floor.

Claudia Ortiz led Northeastern with 17 points, which was aided by going 8-for-8 at the charity stripe. She was one of four Huskies to score in double figures with Jess Genco at 12 points, Gabby Giacone at 11 points and seven rebounds and Francesca Sally at 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Rundown
In a quarter with three 10-2 runs, Elon opened the game on a 10-2 run with four points apiece by Burnett and Malaya Johnson but Northeastern answered with a 10-2 run of its own to knot it at 12-12 with 3:11 to go in the quarter. The Phoenix answered nicely, though, with the third run to go up 22-14 and led by eight until Maureen Taggart knocked down her second three of the quarter as the clock ticked away to cut the lead to five at 22-17 after one quarter.

After hitting 10-of-20 shots in the first quarter, Elon hit just 4-of-13 from the floor in the second 10 minutes and the two teams combined for just 21 points in the frame. Northeastern cut the Phoenix lead to just two with an Ortiz three-pointer to open the quarter but back-to-back layups by Rhodes and Essence Baucom made it a six-point game again. The Huskies then cut it to just one at 26-25 after a Genco three-pointer, but Elon answered with a 7-0 run over the next 2:35 of game action to go up eight late in the first half and took a 33-27 lead to the break.

Early in the third quarter, Rhodes and Johnson both picked up third personal fouls and Elon put Northeastern in the double bonus less than three minutes into the quarter, but Garner picked up the slack with nine points in the quarter and helped Elon extend its lead to 11 on multiple occasions.

Leading by seven after three quarters, Elon extended its lead with a 7-2 run to open the fourth and led 62-49 – its largest lead of the night – with 8:22 to play. Northeastern went on a quick 7-0 run from there to cut the Phoenix lead back to just six at 62-56 with 5:41 to play and again cut it to six at 69-63 with 1:23 to go, but both times Elon put its foot back on the gas pedal to put the Huskies away.

Notes
-Elon has now won 11 of its last 12 games dating back to Dec. 17, 2016.
– In the first half, Elon answered four of Northeastern’s five three-pointers with points on the possessions immediately following the Husky triples. The only one Elon did not answer was the three by Taggart in the closing seconds of the first quarter.
– The Phoenix outrebounded Northeastern 28-12 in the first half, including a 15-4 margin in the first quarter. Elon finished the game outrebounding Northeastern 40-28.
– After missing its first eight three-pointers of the night, Elon knocked down four long balls in a row midway through the third quarter that took Elon’s lead from four at 40-36 to 11 at 52-41.
– Aiding Elon’s second-half run was the fact Elon committed just four turnovers after committing nine in the first half.

Up Next
The Phoenix will close a three-game road trip with a 1 p.m. tip on Sunday, Jan. 29, at Hofstra. The Phoenix and Pride have split the four meetings to date, but Hofstra took the last meeting on Jan. 31, 2016, in New York by the score of 59-49.