Wofford 56, Elon 47
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Wofford outscored Elon 20-4 over the final 10 minutes to win its second-straight Southern Conference game for the first time in five years Tuesday evening inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena in women's basketball action. The Terriers also surpassed their win total from all of last season with the 56-47 triumph.
Following a pair of free throws by Amber Wall with 9:58 remaining, Wofford (8-7, 2-3 SoCon) turned up the defensive intensity and forced the Phoenix into seven turnovers and eight missed free throws. Elon committed 22 turnovers overall and tallied its final four points from the foul line with the last field goal coming from Urysla Cotton with 11:11 left to give the Phoenix a 41-36 lead.
The game featured a variety of runs by both teams with Elon (7-8, 2-3 SoCon) taking the early advantage, 5-2, before the Terriers bounced back with a 10-3 spurt to claim a 12-8 lead on consecutive layups by junior Kelsi Koenig and sophomore Laura Depko. After a Wall jumper to trim the margin to one, 13-12, at the 10:00 mark, Wofford again sprinted out a five-point advantage behind four straight points from sophomore Summer Nichols over the next four-and-a-half minutes.
Senior Mary Jo Yee knocked down a pair of free throws with 4:57 to play in the opening half as the Terriers built their largest lead of the frame at eight, 22-14. The Phoenix, however, would not back down and fought back with eight-straight points, including a Shashonna Moore layup with 1:15 on the clock to knot the score at 22-22. Wofford fed the ball twice down-low to senior Jennifer Weurding for a couple mid-range jumpers and the Terriers took a 26-23 edge into the intermission.
Elon came out of the break with a quick 6-0 streak to take a 29-26 lead before sophomore Liz Miller brought Wofford back within one, 29-28, at the 18:09 mark. Classmate Kate Dempsey then contributed back-to-back jumpers and the Terriers went back on top, 32-29, with 16:59 to play. Over the course of the next seven minutes, the Phoenix outscored Wofford 14-4 to push their lead to seven, 43-36, before the game-ending run by the Terriers.
The win is Wofford's eighth of the season, one more than the entire total from the 2005-06 campaign. Head coach Edgar I. Farmer Jr. joins David Graves (1996-2002) as the only mentors in program history to increase their win total in each of their first three seasons.
The Terriers also won consecutive Southern Conference games since defeating Davidson (77-53) and Appalachian State (93-83) Feb. 11 and 16, 2002. Both of those games were also played inside the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Nichols led all players in scoring for the second-straight game with 13 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds, two shy of Weurding's game-high 10 boards. Weurding added four blocked shots to raise her Southern Conference record to 211.
Wall paced Elon with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Moore also grabbed seven caroms and chipped in 10 points.
Wofford will next embark on a three-game road swing beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday when it travels to Greenville, S.C., to face Furman. The Phoenix continue on the road and will play at the College of Charleston at 2 p.m. Saturday.