Elon 72, Davidson 56

ELON, N.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team (16-12, 13-6 SoCon) made it a perfect 9-0 in Alumni Gym in 2013 after claiming a 72-56 win over Davidson (18-11, 15-4 SoCon) today, March 2. With the victory, the Phoenix has now defeated every Southern Conference team this season. Ali Ford scored a game-high 23 points and handed off three assists in her final home game in the maroon and gold.

Zora Stephenson provided a huge spark off the bench for the Phoenix, finishing 4-of-5 from long distance for 12 points. Kelsey Evans also finished in double figures with 12 points and three blocks.

Elon went 29-of-65 to shoot 44 percent from the field, including 42 percent from beyond the arc, and posted an 88 percent mark from the charity stripe. Elon scored 36 of its points in the paint and converted 19 Davidson turnovers into 18 points. All nine Phoenix players who saw action in the game scored.

The Wildcats finished with a 33 percent shooting clip (20-of-59) and only shot 12 percent from three-point range. Davidson did claim the advantage on the glass, 44-39.

Trailing Davidson 10-4 in the first half, a layup by Farmer at the 13:14 mark topped a 7-0 run to give th Phoenix its first lead of the game, 11-10. The first frame was back-and-forth for the next several minutes until Ford scored seven points in the span of 70 seconds, including back-to-back threes, and Shon Redmond hit a fast-break jumper to help Elon to a five-point edge, 34-29, with just over a minute to play. The Wildcats’ Sarah Davis hit a free throw in the final minute to make it a 34-30 game at the break.

Ford scored 21 points in the first 20 to help the maroon and gold shot 40 percent from the field. Davidson finished the first half 32 percent from the field, including nine percent from beyond the arc.

Both teams got out to a slow start to begin the second frame as neither squad scored a basket in the first four minutes of play. With Elon leading by three, 36-33, threes by Stephenson ignited and capped a 12-3 run for the Phoenix to take a 12-point advantage, 48-36 with 11:14 remaining in the game.

Another long ball by Stephenson gave the maroon and gold its largest lead of the game, 62-42, with under eight minutes to play. Davidson would cut its deficit to 16 several times but could not get any closer than that as the Phoenix claimed victory in its final home game of the season.

Wofford 75, Furman 57

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Morgan Wrightson scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Wofford women’s basketball team to a 75-57 win over Furman on Senior Day Saturday afternoon in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Wrightson’s 25 points was the first time in 11 years a Terrier recorded 25 points in a game since Ricaye Harris scored 25 against Limestone on November 26, 2002. It was the first time in a Division I since Jenny Nett scored 26 points at Chattanooga on February 18, 2002.

Daniella Motley followed Wrightson with 14 points and a tied a game-high with seven rebounds.  Chanel Stokes chipped in ten points for the Terriers.

Wofford (8-19, 3-16) got off to a fast start, 12-5, with a layup from Mariah Masalin, and seven points from Wrightson including a long three just over three minutes into the game.

Furman (12-16, 8-11) battled back and cut the lead down to 15-14 with a 5-0 run with 12:34, but Motley ended the run with a jumper in the lane and Wrightson made a free throw to take the Terrier lead out to 18-14 thirty seconds later.

Two Logan Morris free throws ended a three and a half minute scoring drought for Wofford and started a 5-0 Terrier run to push the lead out to 25-18 with 4:20 left in the first half.

Wofford's lead hit double-digits, 32-22, on a Chanel Stokes layup with one minute on the clock, but Furman ended the half with two free throws from Patrice Butler to give the game the halftime score of 32-24, Wofford.

After the Terriers opened the half with a three from Wrightson, the Paladins went on a 6-2 run to cut the Wofford lead down to seven points, 37-30, at the 17-minute mark. The two teams traded baskets until two Ashton Fleming free throws and a three-point play from Wrightson pushed the Terrier lead back to double-digits, 46-34, with 12:30 showing on the clock.

Wofford kept the lead between ten and 12 points for the next three minutes until Wrightson nailed three from the corner at the nine minute-mark to give the Terriers a 15-point lead, 55-40.

Furman answered with a 6-2 run to trim the margin down to 11 points, 57-46, a minute later, but Wofford took the lead back to 15 points, 61-46, on back-to-back Motley baskets with seven minutes remaining.

Wofford's lead hit 21 points, 73-52, following back-to-back three point plays from Stokes and Masalin with 2:30 left to play.  The Terriers kept control of the game over the final two and a half minutes to earn the 75-57 win.

Wofford ended the game at 48 percent from the floor, 38 percent from three and 70 percent from the free throw line, while Furman finished t 40 percent overall, 25 percent from three and 67 percent from the line.

The Terriers scored 26 points off of 25 Paladin turnovers, while Furman only scored eight points on 12 Wofford turnovers.

Teshia Griswold led Furman with 15 points, while Butler added 13 points.  Sarah Durdaller followed with ten points.

The Terriers honored its four seniors, Rachel Brittenham, Morgan Wrightson, Daniella Motley and Mariah Masalin and team manager Allison Priddy prior to the game.

College of Charleston 73, Western Carolina 61

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Junior Afreyea Tolbert scored 16 points in the second half and sophomore Mikaela Hopkins recorded 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks as the College of Charleston women’s basketball team beat Western Carolina for the second time this season, 73-61 at the Ramsey Center.

The Cougars (14-14, 10-9) got 25 bench points including 13 from sophomore Jazz Green, who also pulled down eight rebounds and tallied three steals for the game.

Juniors Jillian Brown and Alyssa Frye moved into the top-10 on SoCon single season record lists. With two three-pointers Frye moved into 10th in the SoCon record books for threes in a season and now has 82. With her six assists Brown moved into seventh on the single season assist record list and now has 177.

Western Carolina (7-21, 5-14) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead on the Cougars, but the Cougars responded in a big way as they mounted a 27-6 run to go up 27-10 with 7:19 to go in the opening half. Green, who had a career-high 14 points the last time these two teams met, scored 10 points in the Cougars spurt.

Western Carolina came back with an 8-2 run and narrowed the Cougars lead to 41-29 at the halftime break.

The Cougars came out strong in the second half as they scored the first six points of the second period to go up 47-29 on a layup by Frye with 17:35 to go in the game.

The Catamounts connected on three shots from beyond the three-point arc and used a 13-6 run to cut the Cougars lead to 53-42 with 12:52 to play.

The Cougars would not let the Catamounts close the gap to single digits as Tolbert continued to attack and she scored eight of the Cougars 12 points in a stretch where they built their lead back up to 15 at 69-54 at the final media timeout with 3:34 to play in the game.

Chattanooga 69, Appalachian State 45

BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball seniors Raven Gary and Anna Freeman combined for 22 points on Senior Day but Chattanooga shot a blistering 63.3 percent in the first half en route to a 69-45 victory over the Mountaineers on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.

After Chattanooga (26-3, 19-1 SoCon) scored the game's first nine points, Appalachian State (19-8, 13-6 SoCon) cut the deficit to 17-14 on a Courtney Freeman layup with 11:05 to go in the first period. However, UTC closed the half with a 27-14 run and led 44-27 at the break.

Appalachian opened the second half with three jumpers to pull within 11, but the Mountaineers never got any closer as the Lady Mocs put up a pair of 6-0 runs over a 7:41 stretch to pull ahead by 19 points (56-37). Chattanooga picked up 13 points over the remaining 9:25, seven coming from the free-throw line. Appalachian recorded eight more points, including a Bria Huffman jumper with :37 remaining, for a 69-45 final.

Gary led the Mountaineers with 12 points and A. Freeman added 10 in the loss. Ashlen Dewart scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to pace Chattanooga, which won its 16th-straight game.

Georgia Southern 67, UNCG 53

STATESBORO, Ga. – Senior Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va./Riverbend) scored a season-high 26 points, and Georgia Southern shot a season-high 55 percent and scored 42 points in the first half en route to a 67-53 Southern Conference women’s basketball victory over UNCG on Senior Night Saturday in Hanner Fieldhouse.

After being recognized prior to tipoff, Frye was 10-of-13 from the field, hit all five free throws and recorded six rebounds and two assists for Georgia Southern (7-21, 6-13 SoCon). Classmate Ronnesha Smith got her first start of the season and tallied two points, a rebound and an assist in a solid 10 minutes of action.

Anna Claire Knight scored 19 points, while MiMi DuBose finished with eight points and six rebounds and moved into fourth place on the GSU career 3-pointers list, two shy of her older sister, Lee, for third.

Janae’ Stevenson led UNCG (6-22, 3-16 SoCon) with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Lucy Mason contributed 14 points and three steals.

Georgia Southern, which led from tip to horn, shot 55 percent in the first half and held the Spartans to 30 percent, while building a 42-24 lead at the break, their largest halftime advantage of the season. The Eagles wound up shooting a season-high 47 percent for the game.

Georgia Southern jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the contest as Knight and Frye scored four each. The margin grew to 17-4 7:37 into the contest as the duo tallied consecutive 3-point plays. Frye slipped a screen, hit a layup and was fouled, and on the next trip down the floor, Maggie Davis fed a cutting Knight with a nifty pass for another basket and the bonus.

The lead ballooned to as many as 18 points on a Jordi Cook 3-pointer from the wing with 8:21 left in the half. A Knight triple from the baseline made the score 40-22, and the Eagles went into the break with an 18-point cushion.

The Spartans worked the margin down to 15 points on a Jessica Collins’ 3-pointer seven minutes into the second half, but the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run and pushed the lead back to 20 on a DuBose triple. GSU extended the advantage to 21 points, their largest of the contest, on a Knight triple from the baseline with 8:32 remaining.

UNCG countered with seven straight points, capped by a Mason runner to trim the margin to 60-46 with 3:12 to play. After a pair of Frye free throws, Mason was fouled on another runner and hit the free throw, making the score 62-49 with 2:21 left.

Frye hit a 3-pointer from the wing, and after a defensive stop, Knight scored on a layup to push the lead back to 16 points and seal the win.