Lisa Miller recorded a double-double with 16 points and 13 assists to lead Elon to an 84-68 win over East Tennessee State in the quarterfinals of the 2004 Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championships on March 4. Details...
Elon improves to 17-11 while ETSU drops to 13-14.
Elon’s win is only the third time that a fifth seed has won in the women’s basketball championships. It is also the first time since 1998 that a first-year squad has reached the semifinals. Ironically, the last team to do so was UNC Greensboro, Elon’s local rival. Miller’s career-high 13 assists was just two-shy of tying the tournament and Elon school record for assists in a game.
ETSU led for most of the first half with the largest lead at 11-5 at the 14:54 mark. However, the two teams battled with nine lead changes before Brittany Winner hit a trey at the buzzer for the Phoenix to take a 38-33 lead into the locker room at the half. ETSU’s Tiffany Mayes led the scoring in the first half, hitting five-of-seven from the floor and tallying 19 points.
Both teams came out of the break firing baskets as the lead changed five times before Rosalynn Jones hit a trey at 8:39 to give Elon the lead for good.
Jones led Elon with a career-high 19 points while Courtney Nyborg added 11 points, hitting five-of-seven from the floor. Brianne Gray also notched a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Brittany Winner added 10 points for Elon, going two-of-two from three-point range. The Phoenix also shot 47 percent from the floor. Elon is 10-0 when scoring 70 or more points.
ETSU was led by Tiffani Mayes, who recorded a game-high 25 points, and was 13-of-20 from the free-throw line. Kiya Verdell added 17 points for the Bucs to go with three steals.
With the win, the Phoenix awaits the winner of the Chattanooga/Georgia Southern matchup. The two winners will play at Noon on Friday, March 5 at the North Charleston Coliseum. The game will be live on Comcast Sports Southeast.