Box Score
Box Score

ELON, N.C. – Behind a dominant performance in the paint that included nearly three double-doubles, the Elon University women’s basketball team recorded its fifth straight victory in Southern Conference play on Friday night, Jan. 14, as the Phoenix claimed a 79-59 win over the Furman Paladins inside Alumni Gym.

Elon improves to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in league play, while Furman drops to 6-9 (2-4 SoCon) with the loss. Elon is now tied with Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro for first place in the SoCon.

“Right now, we’re a team that’s not about one person. We’re one heartbeat and we want everyone to step up,” said Elon head coach Karen Barefoot, who is now just one win away from 200 for her career. “Our post players played great tonight and we really want to pound it inside and use our size and strength to score points in the paint. We did an excellent job tonight of getting the ball inside and making things happen.”

The victory is Elon’s fifth straight in league play, marking the first time the team has won five games in a row since joining the SoCon in 2003-04. The last time Elon won five straight games in conference play was 2001-02 when the team won six straight Big South games.

As a team, Elon outscored Furman 54-26 in the paint and claimed a 48-37 advantage on the glass. The Phoenix bench outscored its counterparts 36-9 in the victory. A total of eight Elon players scored at least five points in the win.

“Our effort was there for all 40 minutes, even early in the game when they came out and shot incredibly well,” Barefoot added. “We really committed ourselves on defense against a very physical team tonight. We were mentally tough and strong and our bench made the difference in the game.”

Sophomore forward Lei Lei Hairston proved to be a force inside for the Phoenix, tying a game high with 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with nine boards and a game-high five blocked shots. Hairston is the third Elon player to record five blocks in a game this season, as sophomore center Lisa Archie did it on Dec. 18 against Western Carolina, while sophomore forward Kelsey Evans has done so twice this season.

Archie and Evans just missed recording double-doubles in the win, as Archie registered 11 points and nine boards, while Evans posted nine points and grabbed nine rebounds. Both Evans and Archie swatted two shots by the Paladins, as the Phoenix recorded 10 blocked shots as a team in the win, extending its SoCon leading total 90 this season.

Elon shot 49.2 percent from the field, including a blistering 58.6 percent in the second half. On the flip side, the Phoenix defense held Furman to 34.8 percent shooting from the field.

The Phoenix could not find an answer for Furman’s Kelly O’Connor early in the first half, as O’Connor drained three three-pointers in the first four and a half minutes of the game to give the Paladins a 13-6 advantage. O’Connor led all scorers with 12 points on four three-pointers in the opening frame, but the Phoenix led, 35-29, going into the locker room. O’Connor finished the game with 16 points, while teammate Kaitlin Murphy played all 40 minutes and tied for a game-high with 17 points on 8-of-20 shooting.

Elon shot 41.7 percent from the field in the opening frame, but the Paladins held the Phoenix without a three-point field goal in the first 20 minutes (0-for-4). The Phoenix played stellar defense in the first half, recording eight total blocks and holding the Paladins to 29.7 percent shooting from the field.

The Phoenix continued to generate offense through its hands-on defense in the second half, going up by 15 points with 10:24 to play after freshman guard Kelsey Harris ripped Furman’s Kendra Berry of the ball and took it to the basket for the easy layup to make it a 52-37 game. Elon totaled 26 points off 20 Furman turnovers.

From there, the Phoenix never looked back, going up by as many as 24 points late in the game to secure its fifth straight victory in league play.

Elon plays its next two contests on the road, beginning with a trip to Spartanburg, S.C. on Sunday, Jan. 16, to face the Wofford Terriers at 3 p.m.