ELON, N.C. – Taking aim at a sixth-straight victory, Elon University women's basketball travels to Philadelphia for a 7 p.m. matchup Friday night, Jan. 6, inside the Daskalakis Center. The game is set to air on WSOE 89.3 FM and can be watched on
CAA.TV.
THE SERIES: Elon enters Friday's game having lost all four outings against Drexel to date going back to the 2014-15 season, Elon's first in the CAA. Last year at Drexel, the Phoenix suffered a 74-31 loss to the Dragons and lost a 54-47 home game in February.
ABOUT DREXEL: The Dragons, picked to finish third in the preseason poll behind James Madison and Elon, are 10-2 on the campaign and have lost only on the road in November at Vanderbilt and Bucknell. Sandwiched between those losses, though, was a home victory over No. 11/14 and 2016 national runner-up Syracuse, 62-61. After its CAA-opening home win over Towson, Drexel is 6-0 at home this season.
LOOKING BACK: The Phoenix earned a fifth-straight victory with a 70-57 win over College of Charleston. Elon was led by
Malaya Johnson's 17-point performance while
Lauren Brown chipped in 15 points and
Shay Burnett 10. Trailing 22-14 after one quarter, Elon went on a 20-2 run to open the second quarter and never looked back from there, going up by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter in the win.
ON A ROLL: Elon has now won five games in a row for the first time since winning six in a row during the 2012-13 season from Jan. 5, 2013, to Jan. 20 when Elon was a member of the Southern Conference. All nine of Elon's wins this season have come during a four-game winning streak earlier this year and the current five-game stretch.
BATTLING THE BEST: Drexel took over the top spot in the updated ESPN Mid-Major rankings this week. No. 2 on that list is Green Bay, a team Elon opened the season against back in November. The Green Bay Phoenix stand atop the CollegeInsider.com poll, collecting all 31 first-place votes. Updated Jan. 3, Elon received 56 votes in the CollegeInsider.com poll and would rank No. 28 on the list.
MILESTONE WATCH: Senior guard
Lauren Brown has accumulated 927 career points heading into Monday. Not far behind, senior forward
Jenifer Rhodes has 870 career points and junior guard
Shay Burnett has tallied 882 career points.
HEAD COACH CHARLOTTE SMITH: Elon head coach
Charlotte Smith is in her sixth season with the Phoenix and owns career record of 96-74. Smith has led Elon to two straight WNIT appearances and three overall post-season appearances in the last five seasons. Her teams have won 18 or more games in three of the last four seasons heading into 2016-17.
LOOKING AHEAD: Elon will return home from Philadelphia for a 2 p.m. battle with Delaware on Sunday, Jan. 8, at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on Phoenix All-Access.
