Monday, January 25, 1999

Men's Basketball vs. Lenoir-Rhyne 7:30 p.m.

Elon College, NC (Alumni Gym)

Wednesday, January 27, 1999

Men's Basketball vs. Liberty* 7:30 p.m.

Elon College, NC (Alumni Gym)

Thursday, January 28, 1999

Women's Basketball at Liberty* 7:00 p.m.

Lynchburg, VA (Vines Center)

Saturday, January 30, 1999

Women's Basketball at High Point* 7:00 p.m.

High Point, NC (Millis Arena)

Men's Basketball vs. High Point* 7:30 p.m.

Elon College, NC (Alumni Gym)

Next Week

Monday, February 1, 1999

Men's Basketball vs. Coastal Carolina* 7:30 p.m.

Elon College, NC (Alumni Gym)

Women's Basketball at Coastal Carolina* 7:30 p.m.

Conway, SC (Kimbel Arena)

Thursday, February 4, 1999

Women's Basketball vs. Winthrop* 7:00 p.m.

Elon College, NC (Alumni Gym)

Men's Basketball at Winthrop* 7:00 p.m.

Rock Hill, SC (Winthrop Coliseum)

Saturday, February 6, 1999

Women's Basketball at UNC Asheville* 2:00 p.m.

Asheville, NC (Justice Center)

Men's Basketball at UNC Asheville* 4:00 p.m.

Asheville, NC (Justice Center)

* Future Big South Conference Opponent

All Times are Eastern

Elon Scoreboard

Men's Basketball (5-12)

Winthrop 81, Elon 72

Radford 89, Elon 73

Women's Basketball (2-15)

Winthrop 61, Elon 49

Radford 69, Elon 60

MEN'S BASKETBALL (5-12)

The Elon College men's basketball team will be looking to halt a midseason slump as they begin a four-game homestand, beginning with Monday's intrastate matchup with long-time foe Lenoir-Rhyne College at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Fightin' Christians (5-12) will be looking to halt a four-game losing streak when they tipoff against the Bears. Elon will also host Big South Conference foes Liberty (Jan. 27) and High Point (Jan. 30).

Mark Simons' club dropped a pair of Big South games to Winthrop and at Radford.

On Saturday, Elon overcame a large halftime deficit, but failed themselves to secure a second half advantage, losing at Radford 89-73.

Trailing 46-35 at the break, the Fightin' Christians drained four of their first five 3-point attempts and went on a 28-10 run in the first 8:30 of the final period. Freshman Brendon Rowell (Pineville, NC) completed the run with a three-pointer to give Elon a 63-56 lead. The host Highlanders responded in kind with a 14-4 spurt of their own to retake the lead for good.

The Fightin' Christians were led by senior forward Mike Thomas (Herndon, VA), who scored a career-high 21 points and a game-best 11 rebounds. Rowell finished with 16 points, while Morgan Bell (Jr., Los Angeles, CA) and Andrew Toole (Fr., Red Bank, NJ) chipped in 12 and 11 points respectively.

Wednesday's home contest against Big South front-runner Winthrop proved to be a back-and-forth affair. The Eagles' Robbie Waldrop scored 28 points, and tied his career-high with seven three-point field goals in the game, as visiting Winthrop scored an 81-72 victory over Elon.

Elon held a 39-38 halftime lead after a close first half in which neither team led by more than four points. Andrew Toole scored 12 points in the half for Elon, while Waldrop scored 13 points for the visiting Eagles.

Winthrop took its biggest lead of the night with 9:26 left in the game, when Waldrop connected on a three-pointer to give the Eagles a 63-57 advantage. Elon pulled within 74-72 with 59 seconds remaining when Morgan Bell scored on a three-point field goal, but after a timeout, Waldrop drained his final trey of the night with 32 seconds left to expand Winthrop's lead back to 77-72.

Elon was led by 22 points from freshman Toole, who was 6-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-10 from three-point range. Bell also added 11 points for the Fightin' Christians.

The freshman duo of Brendon Rowell and Andrew Toole continues to pace the Elon attack. Rowell lead the squad averaging 14.7 points per game, while Toole is pouring in 10.5 per outing. Morgan Bell is also averaging in double-figures with 10.1 per contest. Mike Thomas is the leading board-getter for the Fightin' Christians pulling down 6.1 per contest.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (2-15)

After playing five of their last six contests on the home hardwood, the Elon College women's basketball team will venture on a three-game Big South road swing, beginning with defending conference champion Liberty, Thursday night in Lynchburg, VA. The Fightin' Christians (2-15) opened the season playing 10 of their first 11 games away from Alumni Gym. Elon has been consistent both home and away, but a consistency that the Fightin' Christians would like to change. The 2-15 record says it all and the almost identical records of 1-5 at home, 1-5 on the road and 0-5 on neutral sites.

The Fightin' Christians dropped a pair of games last week, including Saturday's 69-60 home setback to Big South co-leader Radford. The Highlanders jumped out to a 43-25 lead at halftime, using 58.6 percent shooting in the opening period. Trailing 43-58 with 6:41 remaining, Elon used a 9-4 run in 3:36 to cut the RU advantage to 60-52, but that's as close as they would get.

Junior forward Amy Hill (Greenville, NC) recorded a team-best 13 points and a season-high five assists. For Hill, it was her 187th career dish, one shy of equaling Laura Foster's (1989-93) mark of 188 for eighth place on the Elon assists list.

Freshman forward Mariam McLeod (Gastonia, NC) added 11 points, including eight in the first half.

On Wednesday, Elon got off to another slow start and a late second half charge fell short in a 61-49 loss at Winthrop. The Eagles went on a 16-4 run in the first eight minutes of the game to take a 20-8 lead and eventually jumped out to a 38-20 advantage heading into the locker room.

In the second half, the Fightin' Christians mustered an 11-0 run to get within four points with 6:51 remaining. Scoring only four field goals in the second half, Winthrop made up for it at the free throw line making 15-of-18 at the charity stripe for 83 percent to preserve the win and snap a five-game losing skid.

Mariam McLeod and Loretta Lawson (So., Thomasville, NC) led the way for Elon with 14 points each.

Following Thursday's game at Liberty, Elon will travel to High Point on Saturday, before closing out the road swing on Monday at Coastal Carolina.