Box Score
Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A near double-double from sophomore guard Ali Ford lifted the Elon University women’s basketball team to its sixth straight Southern Conference win on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 16, as the Phoenix claimed a 64-47 win over the Wofford Terriers. The victory marks career win No. 200 for Elon head coach Karen Barefoot.

“The relationships with the coaches and players have been the most important and memorable part about this for me. It's very rewarding when you see the hard work from the players translate into something great,” Barefoot said of her 200th career win.  “When you’re trying to build a winning program it’s about instilling a championship mentality and I believe we are well on our way to being at that level at Elon.”

Elon improves to 11-5 and 6-2 in league play, while Wofford drops to 6-9 (2-5) with the loss. The Phoenix sits tied atop the SoCon with UNC Greensboro and Appalachian State.

Ford scored a game-high 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Ford grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in the win as well, while tallying four steals.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Evans was the only other Phoenix player in double figures, as the Raleigh, N.C. native scored 13 points and grabbed four boards.

Elon out-scored Wofford in the paint, 40-24, while claiming a 52-41 advantage on the boards. Elon held Wofford to 21 points below its season average in the win, limiting the Terriers to 32.1 percent shooting from the field.

“Wofford is a very tough and physical team and made us work for everything tonight. They can shoot the three extremely well and we made it very difficult for them to do so,” Barefoot said. “We wanted to put together 40 minutes of tough and physical basketball on both ends of the court and we did that today. When this team plays together as one we are very tough to beat. We’ve been grinding it out in practice every day and it really translated on the court today.”

After a sluggish start by the Phoenix offense, Ford helped Elon take an early 13-10 lead with under 13 minutes to play after picking Wofford’s Logan Morris of the ball at midcourt and taking it to the basket for the easy layup.

The Phoenix kept the Terriers at arm’s length going into the locker room at intermission, 31-25, after Aiesha Harper took the ball the length of the court for the basket with six seconds remaining in the first half secure the six-point edge.

Elon shot just 28.9 percent from the field in the opening frame, but an 8-for-10 performance at the charity stripe proved to be the difference. The Phoenix controlled the glass, 27-21, in the first half and forced 15 turnovers from the Terriers.

Elon took a nine point lead with 16:44 remaining in the second half after a Hairston steal allowed Julie Taylor to leak out for a fastbreak layup, giving the Phoenix its largest lead of the game, 38-29, forcing Wofford head coach Edgar Farmer to call a timeout.

The Phoenix claimed a 15-point lead and forced another Wofford timeout with 12:04 left after a no-look behind the back pass from Ford to Kelsey Harris following a Terrier turnover led to a basket and a 46-31 lead.

Elon went up by as many as 16 points down the stretch, securing its sixth-straight win in conference action and career victory No. 200 for Barefoot.

Elon plays again on Wednesday, Jan. 19, when it faces cross-town rival UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. for a Southern Conference tilt inside Fleming Gym.