BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Rachel Hester drained seven three-point buckets, two shy of the Elon single game record, and the Phoenix held off a late rally by the Campbell Lady Camels to earn a 76-68 non-conference victory in women's basketball on Thursday night from Carter Gym. With the victory, Elon improved to 3-3 and swept the home-and-home series with the Lady Camels while Campbell fell to 1-4 on the season.

Elon scored the first points of the game on a Nikko King layup at 19:44 and never trailed during the entire 40 minutes of play. The Phoenix advantage reached double digits at 10:26 when Amber Wall hit a layup to make the score 16-5. The lead grew to as many as 17 points twice in the stanza, the latest coming when Katie Whidden put in a layup with 6:23 to play in the first half.

Campbell trimmed the margin back to single digits with 1:54 to go when a Kelly Hufstedler bucket made the score 31-23. Elon ended the half on a 4-0 run and held a 35-23 at the break.

Buckets by Elon's Shashonna Moore and Wall to start the second half put the Phoenix ahead 39-23 with 17:52 remaining in the contest. That would be the biggest lead of the game for the Phoenix as the Lady Camels went on an 18-9 run to cut their deficit to 48-41. During that span, Campbell's Marlena Murphy scored 10 of her 12 markers. Elon answered with the next six points on three-pointers from Hester before Campell made another run. The Phoenix lead was trimmed to three over the next 3:08 as Campell used a 10-0 run to put the score at 54-51 with 7:52 to play.

Again Elon was up to the challenge as the Phoenix went on a 12-7 run of its own which pushed the lead back to 11 points at 69-58 with 4:19 left. The Lady Camels did not fold, however, and rallied yet again, closing the gap back to three at 71-68 when Letitia Dickson drained a three with 45 seconds to play in regulation.

Tierra Bumbrey proceeded to sink one of two free throws and Tiffany Davis put in a lay up before Nicole Allison's two free throws with three seconds left iced the game and provided the final margin of 76-68.

Hester led all players with a career-high 21 points while Bumbrey equaled her career-best with eight assists. Wall added 12 points while both Whidden and Moore finished the game with 10 markers. Wall's six rebounds led the Phoenix who trailed on the boards by a 34-25 margin.

Taylor Oliver led the Lady Camels with 16 points, including three from beyond the arc. Murphy and Oliver were joined in double figures in the scoring column by Dickson and Octavia Blackwell who each scored 10 points. Murphy also pulled in a game-high eight rebounds.

The Phoenix blistered the nets, connecting on 60.8 percent of its shots while Campbell shot 40.4 percent for the game. Elon swiped 16 steals to 10 for Campbell and the Phoenix also held advantages in turnovers (20-23) and assists (22-13).

The six three-pointers made by Campbell equaled the number that the team had achieved in its first four games of the season.

Elon will begin a three-game homestand when Iona visits the "Nest" on Sunday afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. tip.

#2 North Carolina 103, UNC Greensboro 48

CHAPEL HILL, NC ? The second-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels had five players finish in double-figures in the 103-48 win over the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Thursday night at the historic Carmichael Auditorium.

North Carolina is ranked No. 2 in both national polls. The Tar Heels have the second best defense in the nation, allowing only 45.5 points and their margin of victory is 48.3 points so far in the young season.

Tonight’s matchup pitted two of the most successful women’s basketball coaches against each other. UNCG head coach Lynne Agee is 16th all-time with 542 wins, while North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell is fourth with 723 victories

Jasmine Byrd, the Southern Conference’s leading scorer, finished with 16 points for UNCG. The SoCon Player of the Week had all four field goals come from three-point range. Junior Kristen Boone had eight points and four steals for the Spartans.

Camille Little led the Tar Heels with 16 points, while LaToya Pringle finished with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Jessica Breland had

12 points and Heather Claytor and Christina Dewitt finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Tar Heels (7-0) opened up the game on 21-5 run, led by Little, who had nine points in the. North Carolina continued to expand its lead and went into the break up 57-15. The Spartans shot 20 percent from the field, while the Tar Heels finished the half shooting 52.4 percent.

The Spartans (4-2) outscored the Tar Heels 15-12 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to make it 69-29 but were unable to get any closer.

North Carolina outrebounded UNCG 57-34 and shot 50.6 percent from the field.

“We missed a handful of easy layups in the beginning and had we made those early shots, we could have been ok,” stated Agee. “We came out more relaxed in the second half and stuck together and played more as a team.”

The Spartans travel to Davidson on Monday for their SoCon opener. Game set at 7 pm.

Charleston Southern 58, College of Charleston 53

North Charleston, S.C. - The College of Charleston suffered through its worst half of shooting this season as Charleston Southern fought back from a 12-point half-time deficit to earn the 58-53 win in women's basketball action tonight in front of 1,107 fans at the North Charleston Coliseum.

The loss drops the Cougars to 2-4, while the Buccaneers improve to 2-4.  Charleston travels to UNC Wilmington Dec. 2nd for a 2:00 p.m. contest.

 Charleston found itself down 13-7 with 9:26 left in the first half, before the team rattled off 19 unanswered points to take the 26-13 lead with 3:25 left before intermission.  Ashley Scott scored seven of her nine points during that stretch to spark the Cougars.  A two-pointer by Shaunte Small with 1:44 ended the CSU drought.  However, the Bucs would only scored one more basket in the half and the Cougars, helped by a 22-4 run, ended the half leading 29-17.

 Charleston Southern shot just 27.3 percent in the first half, compared to 37.0 percent for the Cougars.

 The Bucs exploded to start the second half and went on a 22-9 run the first 10 minutes of the half to retake the lead 39-38.  Both teams traded baskets over the next several minutes, with neither one able to keep the lead.  With the game tied 53-53 with just under a minute to play, CSU's Pam Tolbert iced a three-pointer to take the lead for good at 56-53.  Charleston was unable to convert on opportunities to tie the game and fell to the eventual 58-53 score.

Natalie Caldwell led the Buc charge, scoring all of her team-leading 13 points in the second-half.  Keena Wicker posted nine of her 13 points in the second half as well.  Rachel Potts and Wicker led the Bucs in rebounds with nine apiece.

Charleston was paced by Nikki Williams and Jade Hughes with 13 points each.  Melissa Chambers led with seven rebounds.

 The Cougars shot just 23.3 percent from the field in the second half to end the game with its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season at 29.8.  Charleston Southern, with a dominating 61.5 field goal percentage in the second half, ended the game with 45.8.  The Bucs out-rebounded the Cougars 37-36 and had six more turnovers, 24-18.