Elon 51, Iona 35
ELON, N.C. ? Led by Nikko King’s game and season-high 12 points, seven rebounds and career-best seven steals, the Elon Phoenix never trailed en route to a 51-35 non-conference women’s basketball victory over the visiting Iona Gaels from Alumni Gym on Sunday afternoon. The Phoenix has not trailed in either of its last two games and now sits at 4-3 on the year. Iona fell to 3-5 this season.
Elon began the game with a 10-0 run over the first 2:55, getting five points each from King and Katie Whidden. The Gaels finally got on the board with 16:13 to play when Regan Pettijohn hit a jumper. With the score 12-3 in favor of the Phoenix with 14:20 to play in the first stanza, Elon went on a 15-6 run to push its margin to 27-9 when Shashonna Moore drained a jumper with 5:38 to go in the half. Amber Wall’s layup at the buzzer gave the Phoenix its largest lead of the half and sent the teams into the lockerrooms with Elon ahead 35-13.
In the second period, Elon started the half with a 6-3 run to build a 25 point advantage before Iona tried to claw back into the contest. The Gaels netted the next seven points to trim the margin to 41-23 and would later close to within 14 at 44-30 after a Tiara Headen three with10:28 to play. From that point, the Phoenix closed the door and outscored Iona 7-5 the rest of the way to secure its first back-to-back wins of the season.
Along with King, Elon was led by Whidden who finished with a career-best 11 points for the third time in her career and second time this season. On the boards, Moore led all players with eight rebounds while Wall added seven caroms. Moore also finished the day with a career-best five steals.
Iona’s Toni Horvath led the Gaels with 10 points while Pettijohn grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Phoenix dominated in the paint, outscoring the Gaels by a 30-18 margin in the lane.
Elon ended the day with a season-best 20 steals while Iona grabbed only eight steals. In its last two outings, the Phoenix is averaging 18.0 steals. For only the second time this year, Elon out-rebounded its opponent. In the victory, the Phoenix pulled in 41 rebounds, including 16 offensive boards, to Iona’s 31. The Phoenix finished with an edge in assists as well, passing for 13 helpers to nine for the Gaels. Iona did hold a 3-0 advantage in blocked shots.
Awaiting Elon is a home date with Triad rival High Point. The Panthers will visit the “Nest” on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
Chattanooga 81, Eastern Kentucky 52
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? The Lady Mocs defeated Eastern Kentucky 81-52 in the final game of the 2006 Courtyard Classic, slamming the brakes on a three-game losing skid.
Alex Anderson tallied her fourth double-double of the year with a game leading 23-points and 11 rebounds and Laura Hall notched her first double-double of the year with 12 points and a career-best 12 assists. Anderson scored 14 points in the first half to help the Lady Mocs to a 46-34 halftime lead.
Chattanooga took control of the game early. Anderson’s jumper at 17:41 in the first half tied the game at 5-5 and UTC would not trail again in the game. The Lady Mocs outscored EKU 18-6 to take a 23-11 lead in just six minutes and then built that lead to 37-18 with 7:24 to play. Chattanooga led by as much as 21 in the first half, but the Lady Colonels climbed back into the game, cutting the lead to 10 just before halftime with an 11-0 run.
In the second half, the Lady Mocs came out strong and put together a 14-0 run, grabbing a 26 point lead and went up by as much as 30 points in the stanza. Anderson and Shanara Hollinquest combined to go for a 9-for-9 in the second half.
After shooting less than 30 percent in Saturday’s game against St. Joseph’s, the Lady Mocs bounced back and shot a sparkling 51.5 percent from the floor, making 34-of-66.
Eastern Kentucky’s Amber Kirkpatrick, Crystal Jones and Nikki Avery each scored 12 points for the Lady Colonels. Jones had a team-high six rebounds and three assists while Kirkpatrick pulled down five boards for EKU. Avery scored all of her points from the 3-point line, making 4-of-12. Eastern Kentucky falls to 3-5 on the year.
For the fourth time in her career, Anderson tallied four blocked shots, tied for third most in a game at UTC. Brooke Hand nailed three 3-pointers in the first half to give her 170 for her career, tying her with Miranda Warfield for second on Chattanooga’s career list. She needs 46 to reach Katasha Brown’s Southern Conference record 216 career treys.
The Lady Mocs, 4-4, will take time off for final exams before heading to Hawaii for the Paradise Classic Dec. 15-16 in Honolulu. UTC will face Portland State in the first round then play either Evansville or host Hawaii on the second day.
Western Carolina 69, St. Joseph's 51
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? Western Carolina opened the game with a 15-2 run over the first five minutes, built the lead to as many as 24 in the second half and never trailed en route to a 69-51 win over the Saint Joseph’s Hawks Sunday afternoon in the Courtyard Classic at the McKenzie Arena.
WCU finishes tournament play with a 1-1 mark and pushes its seasonal mark to 5-4. SJU falls to 3-4 on the season, also 1-1 at the Courtyard Classic tournament.
“We were a lot more focused today than yesterday,” said third-year head coach Kellie Harper following the win. “It is good for us to get the win today, but more importantly, as a coach, it is good for me to know that we have this type of performance in us. Now we have to figure out how to come ready to play and perform like we did today every time out.”
Junior forward Jessika Johnson, making her second-straight start, led Western with a season-high 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Sophomore Lauren Powell dumped in a dozen, while junior Chevon Keith posted the first double-double by a Lady Catamount this season with 10 points and 10 rebounds while also dishing out four assists.
Monique Dawson just missed double-digits with nine points, two assists and a pair of steals, with freshman Heather Swayne and senior Erin May each scoring seven, Swayne tying her career-best set on Saturday afternoon.
After missing its first shot from the field, Western pushed out to a 6-0 lead as a part of the opening 15-to-2 run at the first media timeout. Saint Joseph’s managed to shrink the lead back to five, 16-11, with a 9-to-1 spurt, but WCU managed at least a three-point lead the remainder of the half and led by seven, 26-19, at the break.
Out of intermission, the Lady Catamounts built their lead back to double-digits two and a half minutes into the frame and pushed it over 20 with a lay-up by Dawson at the 11:16 mark. WCU maintained the 20-pont cushion until the final seconds tipped off doing most of the damage from the charity stripe. Over a four-minute span from the eight minute mark, WCU scored 13-consecutive points from the free throw line until Swayne ended the field-goal drought with her first career 3-pointer at the two minute mark to push the advantage back to 23.
Saint Joseph’s had two players finish with double-figures led by 13 points from guard Jenna Loschiavo and 11 by Ayahna Cornish. Post Erica Pollock led the Hawks’ with nine rebounds.
Western has several days off before returning to action next Sunday, Dec. 10 when it visits the nationally-ranked UNC Chapel Hill Tar Heels for a 2:00 pm tip-off.