Box Score
Box Score

ELON, N.C. – An old-fashioned three-point play by Shon Redmond with 18.3 seconds remaining in the game lifted the Elon University women’s basketball team to its first Southern Conference victory of the season on Monday night, Dec. 20, as the Phoenix topped the Davidson Wildcats, 61-60, inside Alumni Gym.

Elon improves to 6-4 and 1-2 in league play, while Davidson falls to 4-4 (0-1 SoCon) with the loss. Elon is off to its best start since the 1999-00 team also began the season with a 6-4 record.

With the scored tied for the 10th time in the game at 58-all, Davidson’s Sophia Aleksandravicius sunk a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left to give the Wildcats a two-point lead, 60-58, and momentum.

But the Phoenix had other ideas, as Redmond, who started for the first time in her career tonight, slashed to the basket on the right side of the lane for the layup and foul, making it a tie game at 60-all. Redmond hit the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play and give Elon a 61-60 advantage, one it would not relinquish in the final moments after Davidson’s Laura Murray missed a jumper on her team’s final possession.

“We let Shon isolate their guard on the final possession with their defenders hugging in tight and several great shot blockers on the court. She took the ball hard to the basket and came up big for us tonight,” said Elon head coach Karen Barefoot. “Shon came into this program with a lot of experience and she really stepped up as a leader tonight and helped us beat a very talented Davidson team.”

Redmond finished with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, as well as a 3-for-3 performance from the free throw line. Redmond also dished out five assists for Elon.

Elon had two more players score in double figures, as Lei Lei Hairston poured in a team-high 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go along with seven boards, while Ali Ford pitched in 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Elon defense had a stellar performance in tonight’s win, limiting Davidson to 36.7 percent shooting from the field to go along with 10 total blocks. Kelsey Evans led the way with a game-high four blocked shots, while Lisa Archie, who also made her first career start tonight, swatted three shots by the Wildcats. Elon limited Aleksandravicius, who ranked third in the league in scoring (18.7 ppg) going into tonight’s game, to eight points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field.

“We really willed our way to win tonight and we were determined after Saturday’s game,” Barefoot added. “Tonight, I saw a lot of people mature and step up and believe in themselves. No matter what it looked like, we were determined to win and you could see it in our players eyes.”

After both squads jockeyed for position for most of the first half, the Phoenix went into the locker room with an eight-point lead after a 10-2 run in the final 3:33 gave Elon a 31-23 advantage at intermission.

The Phoenix shot 51.7 percent from the field in the first half, while limiting Davidson to a 34.5 percent (10-of-29) clip from the field in the first 20 minutes.

But Murray helped Davidson climb back into the game early in the second half, scoring eight points in a 10-2 run by the Wildcats to knot the game at 36-apiece with 14:40 remaining. Murray finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-20 shooting from the field, including a 4-of-6 clip from beyond the arc.

The two squads battled back-and-forth to an eventual 58-all tie with 31 second remaining, but Elon’s stingy defense and Redmond's key play in the final moments allowed the Phoenix to earn its first conference victory of the season.

Elon returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 30, when it heads to Huntington, W. Va. to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7 p.m.