Women's Basketball Southern Conference

SoCon Women's Basketball Results for Saturday, February 12

ELON, N.C. - Danielle Hemerka scored a personal-best 16 points as Davidson staved off Elon for a 62-58 Southern Conference women's basketball victory Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.

Hemerka canned six of her 10 attempts from the floor, including three of her four shots from beyond the arc. She received plenty of support from teammates Katie Hamilton (16 points), Janell Crayton (10 points) and Tia Washington (game-high seven rebounds, contest-best and career-high 10 assists), who recorded the Wildcats' first double-digit performance in assists this season.

Davidson (15-9 overall, 12-5 Southern Conference) survived a career-high 22 points from Phoenix point guard Tierra Bumbrey, who equaled another career best with a team-high six boards to go with her seven assists. She sank a career-high 10 of her 16 shots from the field.

In the first half, Elon (4-19, 3-13) reeled off seven consecutive points to trade a 19-13 deficit for a 20-19 edge on a jumper by Sade Jordan with 6:53 to go before the break. The Wildcats responded with a 16-4 run to build a 35-24 lead on a three-pointer by Jessica Mitchell with 59 seconds left in the stanza before settling for a 35-26 halftime advantage.

Davidson opened the second period with a 9-2 spurt to expand its lead to 44-28 on a jumper by Crayton with 14:06 remaining in the contest. The Wildcats eventually stretched their cushion to 57-39 on a jumper by Mitchell with 7:37 left.

The Phoenix soared to a 22-1 run, pulling to within 61-58 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Brianne Gray with 27 seconds on the clock. Missed openers on back-to-back one-and-one free throw line visits by Hemerka and Hamilton and a steal by Gray gave Elon a chance to even the score.

Phoenix shooter Robyn Shipley's bid to net her fourth trey of the game narrowly missed its mark with 13 ticks to play. Mitchell converted a freebie with four seconds left to decide the final count.

Elon ended up with edges in field goal percentage (46.2-38.1), blocked shots (6-1), points in the paint (28-24), fast break points (9-6) and bench points (29-17). Davidson finished with advantages in three-point field goal percentage (29.2-25.0), free throw percentage (58.3-54.5), rebounding (38-35), assists (17-12), turnovers (13-20), steals (15-8), points off turnovers (21-18) and second chance points (12-10).

The Phoenix will be back at it when Western Carolina stops by Alumni Gym at 6 p.m. Monday. The Wildcats will return to action when they visit UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. Tuesday.