Elon 66, Appalachian State 54ELON, N.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team returned home to Alumni Gym for its first home game of 2014 in impressive fashion, defeating Appalachian State, 66-54, tonight, Jan. 17. The Phoenix improves to 7-10 on the season and 3-3 in Southern Conference play, while the Mountaineers are now 5-11 (2-4 SoCon).
Jessica Farmer had the best game of her career, going a career-high 7-of-9 from the field to score another career-high 19 points, including 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. The sophomore also finished with three assists, three blocks and three steals.
Sam Coffer dished out a career-high seven assists and fell just short of a double-double with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Kelsey Harris posted 10 points and also hauled down eight rebounds.
The Phoenix, who never trailed in the game, went 23-of-49 from the field to shoot 47 percent, including 44 percent from beyond the arc. Elon also hit 16-of-25 chances at the charity stripe for a 64 percent mark.
The Mountaineers were held to 34 percent shooting after going 24-of-71 from the field and only hit one three in the game. At the line, ASU had five makes in its 14 attempts (36 percent), but did grab the advantage on the boards, 46-36, and claimed 20 second-chance points.
Elon shot 54 percent in the first frame, hitting 14-of-26 from the field, while ASU was held to a 22 percent clip. With just over nine minutes on the clock, Coffer was fouled after she stole the ball and turned it into a fast-break layup. Coffer finished off the old-fashioned three point play to give the Phoenix a 12-point lead, 24-12. Another fast-break layup, this time by Lauren Brown, with 42 ticks left in the half put the maroon and gold up by 20, 37-17, at the break.
In the second half, a layup by Harris gave Elon its biggest lead of the game of 22 points, 41-19, with 17:26 on the clock. The Mountaineers then managed a 13-2 run that spanned over eight minutes to close the gap to 11, 45-34, before Coffer hit a three to put the Phoenix back up by 14.
ASU’s Maryah Sydnor made a jumper with just over five minutes to play to make it a nine-point game, 53-44. As the shot clock expired, Lenaira Ruffin sank a three from the wing to return the maroon and gold to a double-digit lead, 56-44. The Mountaineers immediately answered with a three of their own before Ruffin sank another three from the same spot to keep Elon up by 12, 59-47, with 3:23 left in the game. The closest ASU would get was a 10-point deficit with under a minute to play but the Phoenix was able to hit free throws down the stretch and close out the 12-point victory.
Western Carolina 60, UNCG 49GREENSBORO, N.C. – Seniors Rena Wakama and Hana Haden combined to score 35 points as Western Carolina women’s basketball (9-8, 3-3 Southern Conference) powered past UNCG (5-12, 1-4 SoCon) 60-49 Friday at Fleming Gymnasium.
Wakama, from Raleigh, N.C., poured in 21 points to lead all scorers. She scored 15 of her 21 points in the first half. Haden had 14 points, hitting two of Western Carolina’s three three-pointers in the game, and also swiped a career-high six steals.
Western Carolina gave up just five field goals in the second half, one of the five a three-pointer. The Spartans shot an anemic 12.5 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes. UNCG hung around in the game thanks to the charity strip as the Spartans scored nine of its 20 second half points at the free throw line. The Spartans ended the game shooting 23.3 percent.
UNCG trailed Western Carolina by four, 33-29, at the half. The two teams scored three quick buckets, a pair of field goals by Haden and Wakama for Western Carolina, and a layup by UNCG’s Jane’ Stevenson to open the game, then neither team scored for the next three minutes.
Jazmine Missouri’s pair of free throws, with 15:5 left to play, trimmed Western Carolina’s lead to four, 37-33. Shauna Terry answered for Western Carolina with a jumper. Terry’s jumper spurred a 6-0 run by Western Carolina, with four of the six points coming from Wakama, to give the Catamounts their first double digit lead of the game, 40-30.
Western Carolina built its largest lead, 14, when junior Justin Taylor hit a lay-up and Terry followed with a free throw to make the score 54-40 with 4:50 left. UNCG strung together back-to-back field goals, a field goal and a three-pointer, to cut the Catamount lead to single digits for the final time in the game, 54-45, with 3:13 left.
Western Carolina was 6-of-8 from the free throw line, in the last minute of the game, to keep UNCG from trying to make a run. Of its five field goals, in the last 20 minutes of the game, the Spartans hit two of them in the final three minutes of the game.
The game was close for most of the first half but Western Carolina looked to have the Spartans well in hand until UNCG decided to make a run for it. UNCG tied the game at 20, with 4:37 left in the first half, thanks to an 11-5 run. The Spartans proceeded to score eight unanswered points to take its largest lead of the game, 28-20.
Haden and Wakama took over to cut into the UNCG lead. Wakama’s jumper cut the Spartan lead to six, with 2:45 remaining. Haden picked up one of her six steals and converted it to two points thanks to a lay-up. A UNCG turnover led to Haden coming back down the court and sinking a three-pointer to quickly turn the Spartans’ eight point lead to one.
Western Carolina tied the game, for the third time off a pair of free throws by freshman forward Alexis Carter. A lay-up by Carter and a jumper by Wakama closed out the game and gave WCU the 33-29 half-time lead.
The Catamounts fought through 20 turnovers thanks to hot shooting as Western Carolina was 45.1 percent from the field, just four tenth of a point of tying its season high of 45.5 percent the team set against Chattanooga. It’s the third straight game Western Carolina has shot 40 plus percent from the field.
Carter had a season-high four blocks in the game as the team had six in the contest. Western Carolina was outrebounded 42-37 but had 28 defensive boards.
Jade Scaife was the only UNCG player to score in double figures with 10, all coming in the first half.