Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Elon University women’s basketball team could not stave off a hot-shooting Charlotte 49ers team on Saturday night, Nov. 19, at Halton Arena, as the Phoenix suffered an 89-58 setback.
 
Charlotte shot 54 percent from the field in the game, knocking down six shots from beyond the arc. Playing without standout forward Kelsey Evans, Elon struggled to contain the 49ers under the basket. Charlotte finished the game with a 51-29 advantage on the glass, including 17 on the offensive end that led to 17 second-chance points. The 49ers also scored 40 points in the paint compared to the Phoenix’s 20.

“I think our main problem tonight was we stopped being aggressive. We were aggressive early and generated a lot of our offense through transition but we didn’t have that effort the entire game,” said Elon head coach Charlotte Smith. “I thought we played up-tempo early on, but we didn’t do a good enough job on the boards tonight to win the game.”
 
Ali Ford led all scorers with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the field in the loss.
 
Rookie Zora Stephenson followed up an impressive 28-point performance last night against Virginia Intermont with an efficient 11 points on three three-balls and a pair of free throws in 19 minutes off the bench.
 
Elon shot just 32 percent from the field in the setback, including a 5-of-20 mark from three-point land. The Phoenix turned the ball over a season-low 16 times and forced the 49ers into 16 turnovers.
 
Like the Phoenix did in last night’s win, the 49ers put five players in double figures, led by Epiphany Woodson’s 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
 
Elon led just once in the contest, as a Ford baseline jumper with 13:31 left gave the Phoenix an early 13-10 advantage and forced 49ers head coach Cara Consuegra to call a timeout.
 
But the 49ers jumped out to an 11-point lead with 5:30 remaining after a Jennifer Good layup made it a 30-19 game. Charlotte went on a 12-2 run over a six-minute span toward the end of the opening frame to go ahead by 16 points, 37-21, with 2:14 on the clock.
 
Elon found itself in a 24-point hole at intermission, 47-23, after the 49ers closed the half on an 8-0 run over the final 1:54.
 
The Phoenix could not contain Charlotte’s hot shooting in the first 45 minutes, as the 49ers shot a blistering 61 percent (19-of-31) from the field, including 4-of-7 from long distance. Elon was limited to a 27-percent clip from the field in the first half after knocking down 10-of-37 shots.
 
Charlotte claimed a 30-point lead to all but seal it with under seven minutes remaining in the second half after a Paige McCallum jumper made it an 80-50 game.
 
Elon returns to action next weekend for the East Carolina Thanksgiving Tournament, Nov. 26-27, in Greenville, N.C. The Phoenix tips off action versus Robert Morris on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 6:30 p.m. before taking on host ECU a day later at 4:30 p.m.