Holly Andrews' 25 points allowed Elon to overcome a 12-point deficit in the second half as the Phoenix defeated Winthrop 73-61 in the first round of the Big South Conference tournament Wednesday night at Alumni Gym. Details...
Elon, 19-9 overall, will face High Point at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 8 in the tournament semifinals at the Vines Center on the Liberty University campus in Lynchburg, Va. For ticket information, contact the Liberty University Ticket Office at (434) 582-7452.
The first half, which featured seven lead changes and a pair of ties, saw the Eagles (10-18) use an 11-2 surge to turn a 24-24 deadlock into a 35-26 halftime advantage. Tawander Whittington scored seven of her 10 first-half points during that run.
After the break, an old-fashioned three-point play by Jessica Anger pushed the Winthrop lead to 38-26 with 19:02 on the clock. Elon (19-9, 12-1 at Alumni Gym) responded with a 14-2 spurt to even the count at 40-40 on a pair of Courtney Nyborg free throws with 16:22 remaining, marking the first of five second-half ties.
The contest’s final stalemate – at 56-56 – was broken when Laura Herman sank a three-point shot to give the Eagles the lead at the 8:13 mark. The Phoenix answered by reeling off 10 consecutive points – including a pair of treys by Andrews – to fashion a 69-59 lead with 1:56 to play and put the game out of reach.
“Winthrop came out and challenged us early,” Elon coach Brenda Paul said. “We normally thrive on the defensive end and we felt like we’d pick it up in the second half. We do things that break teams down by doing things that our players know how to do.”
Nyborg chipped in 12 points and blocked three shots while Anestha Blakeney pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for the Phoenix. Elon point guard Jayme Chikos’ game-high nine assists pushed her career total to 605, making her the first Big South Conference women’s basketball player to amass 600 assists.
Whittington (19 points, five assists), Anger (13 points), Herman (12 points) and Stephanie Pannell (seven rebounds, game-high five steals) led the Eagles.
“We got into foul trouble and we started to become timid,” said Winthrop coach Cheryl Nix. “We became tired when we couldn’t make substitutions. I just want people to know the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. And I’m proud of our kids.”
The Phoenix fired 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from the floor in the second half after hitting 40.7 (11-of-27) in the first. Elon connected on 52.9 percent (27-of-51) of its field goals for the contest while the Eagles shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55). Winthrop sank an even 50.0 percent (16-of-32) in the first period, but only 39.1 percent (9-of-23) in the second.
The Phoenix won the battle of the boards 41-23, negating the Eagles’ 17-23 advantage in turnovers. Elon also had edges in steals (12-11) and blocked shots (6-1).
The victory lands the Phoenix in an 8 p.m. Saturday semifinal showdown with neighbor High Point. The third-seeded Panthers eliminated sixth-seeded Radford 59-45 in their first-round meeting.
The Big South is a NCAA Division I Conference with nine institutions in the Southeast. Birmingham-Southern College, Charleston Southern University, Coastal Carolina University, Elon University, High Point University, Liberty University, Radford University, UNC Asheville and Winthrop University comprise the 19-year-old League, which is based in Charlotte, NC. The Big South Conference is online at www.BigSouthSports.com.