ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women's basketball team goes for the season sweep of Drexel on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 3 p.m. on American Sports Network. With a win, Elon would extend the program's Division I-era record to nine wins in a row and head coach
Charlotte Smith would earn her 100th-career victory in five-plus seasons as a head coach.
THE SERIES: Elon trails Drexel in the all-time series, 4-1, but the Phoenix won for the first time last week on Friday, Jan. 6, in Philadelphia by the final of 48-45.
ABOUT DREXEL: Drexel has lost just once in the last 10 outings - to Elon. The run dates back to Dec. 3. Before the run, Drexel also took down No. 11/14 Syracuse at home, 62-61. In CAA play, the Dragons have victories over Towson, Northeastern and UNCW. Drexel has allowed 48 points or less in all four CAA games thus far.
LOOKING BACK: Elon earned its largest conference win to date as a CAA member with an 84-56 win at College of Charleston. Lauren Brown led Elon with 16 points while both Malaya Johnson (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Jenifer Rhodes (10 points, 10 rebounds) notched double-doubles. Jada Graves also scored 12 points in the win.
ON A ROLL: Elon has now won eight games in a row, the most consecutive victories in a row as a Division I program. Last time Elon won eight games in a row came in 1983-84 from Nov. 21 to Dec. 8 under coach Mary Jackson.
WINNING BIG: Each of Elon's last two wins have been the two largest in conference play as members of the CAA. Friday's 84-56 (+28) victory at Charleston marked the largest in two-plus CAA seasons and it topped last Sunday's 69-42 (+27) home win over Delaware, which was the previous biggest CAA win for the program. Before that, Elon's biggest CAA win was 22 points last season over Towson and UNCW.
CLIMBING HIGH: Elon checked in this week as the top mid-major in the NCAA RPI rankings at No. 24. The Phoenix also cracked the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, ranking No. 24 on that list. The jump from receiving votes to No. 24 was helped by topping last week's No. 1 - Drexel - last Friday night, 48-45.
MILESTONE WATCH: Senior guard Lauren Brown has accumulated 967 career points heading into Sunday. Not far behind, senior forward Jenifer Rhodes has 904 career points and junior guard Shay Burnett has tallied 908 career points.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Charlotte Smith, now in her sixth season with the Phoenix, is one win away from 100 in her career. Smith owns a record of 99-74. She has led Elon to back-to-back WNIT appearances and three postseason appearances in five seasons. Her teams have won at least 18 games in three of the last four seasons.
LOOKING AHEAD: Elon will welcome preseason CAA favorite James Madison on Friday, Jan. 20. All-time, JMU is 5-0 against Elon, winning in overtime at Alumni Gym and by one in Harrisonburg, Va., last season.
