Elon Women’s Basketball Hands Top-Ranked Delaware First Conference Loss, 83-61

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s basketball team defeated Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) leader Delaware by a 22-point margin to give the Blue Hens their first conference loss of the 2020-21 season on Sunday, Jan. 31, 83-61. Delaware came into the game with a 12-1 (9-0 CAA) record on the season.

BOX SCORE

“This is definitely a big win for our program,” said head coach Charlotte Smith. “I am very proud of the team and their resiliency and their ability to bounce back from yesterday’s loss. That takes a lot of character. So, I’m really proud of our team and the effort that they put forth today. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for this team and I look forward to us getting better each weekend.”

THE RUNDOWN
-The Phoenix got things going with a 10-2 run to start the game. Elon held on to the lead until the Blue Hens took a 29-28 lead with 3:02 remaining in the half. In the final few minutes of play, the maroon and gold outscored Delaware 9-4 to take a three-point advantage going into intermission (37-34).
-After Elon outscored Delaware 22-11 to make the score 59-45 going into the fourth, the momentum remained with the Phoenix as Elon grew its lead to a game-high 22 points when Vanessa Taylor scored the final field goal of the game to make the final score 83-61.

NOTES
-Brie Perpignan paced the Phoenix with 20 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the field and and a career-high 3-of-4 from deep. The guard also recorded a season-best six assists, just one shy of her career high.
-Saadia Munford, Ariel Colón and Evonna McGill rounded out the double-digit scoring, posting 16, 15 and 10 points, respectively. Colón’s points tie her season high.
-Maya Johnson totaled a career high in steals (4). The sophomore’s six points also matches her season high.
-Collectively, the maroon and gold set a new season highs for single-game field goals (31), field goal percentage (.508) and percentage from deep (.529).
-Elon has now defeated three teams in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, James Madison (10), Delaware (22) and Drexel (24).
-The win snaps a five-game losing streak against the Blue Hens. The last Elon victory when facing Delaware came on Jan. 21, 2018 when the Phoenix came out on top against the Blue Hens, 64-51.
-The Phoenix improves to 7-5 (3-3 CAA) on the season, while Delaware falls to 12-2 (9-1 CAA).

UP NEXT
Elon continues conference play at UNCW on Feb. 6 and 7. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. each day.