ELON, N.C. – The Navy Midshipmen outscored the Elon Phoenix 42-19 in the second half of play to hand Elon a 68-61 loss on Saturday night at Alumni Gym in the final day of the Phoenix Classic Presented by Comfort Inn. With the loss, Elon fell to 1-1 on the season while Navy improved to 2-0.
"I think that we will be able to use this as a learning experience as we move forward in the season," head coach Karen Barefoot said. "I was extremely pleased with the first half performance by the team. Unfortunately, we made some bad decisions with the ball and allowed Navy to capitalize on them. I have to credit Navy, though, they competed hard in the second half and made shots when they needed to."
Elon shot 41 percent from the floor, including 57 percent from behind the arc, in the first half to take an 16-point advantage, 42-26, into the intermission. But Navy started the second stanza with a 12-4 run to cut the lead to just eight, 46-38, at 16:24 on a jumper by Megan Matheny. Elon pushed the lead back to 10 at 52-42 with 13:43 on the clock on a basket by
Kelsey Evans. The Midshipmen then put together a 12-2 run to knot the game at 54 on two free throws by K.C. Gordon.
Elon got two points from
Urysla Cotton and a free throw from
Tiara Gause to regain a 57-54 lead at the 6:37 mark. Free throws by Navy's Jasmine Pitts cut the lead back to one, 57-56, just 10 seconds later. A jumper in the paint by Chey Arvin with 4:55 remaining gave Navy its first lead of the game at 58-57. Down by four, 63-59, Elon's
Lei Lei Hairston layed the ball in to cut the lead to just two with 1:21 remaining in the game. Pitts converted four free throws, and Kristin Bowen added one, down the stretch to secure the 68-61 win for the Midshipmen.
Down by four, 7-3, to start the game, Elon scored 27 unanswered points to go ahead 30-7 with 9:07 on the clock. In the run,
Ali Ford posted eight points while
Julie Taylor hit back-to-back three-point buckets.
Elon held onto a 22-point lead at 31-9 before the Midshipmen posted eight consecutive points to cut the lead to 14, 31-17, on a layup by Bowen with 5:54 remaining in the half. Elon scored the next four points, on two free throws by Evans and a jumper by
Kallie Hovatter, to push the lead back to 18, 35-17. Navy cut the lead to 15 at 38-23 with 1:27 on the clock before Elon converted three free throws and a bucket to increase the lead to 19, 42-23, with 39 seconds remaining. Bowen drained a three-pointer with 16 ticks on the clock to cut the lead to 16 heading into halftime.
Evans and Ford led the Phoenix with 12 points each. Evans also added eight boards, including four on the offensive end, and two blocks. For her efforts in the tournament, Evans was named to the all-tournament team. Cotton, Taylor and Hairston each added eight points for Elon. Hovatter pulled in seven rebounds while Cotton and
Courtney Medley each grabbed four. Elon shot 36.1 percent from the floor for the game and 40 percent from three-point range. The Phoenix connected on 68.4 percent of its shots from the free throw line.
Pitts paced the Midshipmen with 18 points and five assists. Gordon added 14 points and seven rebounds, including five offensive boards. Bowen posted 13 points and nine rebounds while Cassie Consedine tallied 10 points. Angela Myers grabbed a game-high 12 boards. Navy converted 35.3 percent of its shots, including 25 percent from behind the arc. The Midshipmen shot 81.3 percent from the free throw line.
Elon returns to action on Friday, November 20 in a 5 p.m. game with St. Andrews in Alumni Gym.
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