| Elon Phoenix vs. Alabama Crimson Tide & Iowa Hawkeyes |
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ELON, N.C. – Elon University women's basketball is set to take part in the 2017 Puerto Rico Clasico in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this weekend. First, the Phoenix will take on Alabama on Friday, Nov. 24, at 5 p.m. before finishing the tournament with a 5 p.m. game Saturday, Nov. 25, against Iowa.
TICKETS
Tickets to Elon's games are available at the doors to Cardinal Gibbons High School in Ft. Lauderdale.
THE SERIES
Elon has never met Iowa, but it fell to Alabama back on Dec. 18, 1997, in a neutral-site game by the score of 74-49.
ABOUT ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide lost its first game of the 2017-18 season Thursday afternoon, Nov. 23, falling to NC State by the score of 68-49. It's led by Hannah Cook's 14.4 points per game. Ashley Williams shoots 57.7 percent from the floor and averages eight rebounds per game.
LAST TIME OUT
The Phoenix took down UCF on the road Wednesday, Nov. 22, to move to 4-0 on the season.
Malaya Johnson led the team with 14 points and nine rebounds and
Lexi Mercer and
Jada Graves each had 12 points. Mercer also had a career-best six rebounds and three steals and Graves had seven rebounds and five assists.
PERFECT STARTS
Elon's 4-0 start marks the seventh time in program history the team has started perfect through four games. On three occasions in 1979-80, 1997-98 and 2014-15, the streak ended at four. Only three times in 1973-74, 1980-81 and 1995-96 has Elon won at least five games in a row to start its season.
EARLY-SEASON AWARD
Following a strong opening night, Ra'Shika Whte was named the first CAA Player of the Week on Monday, Nov. 13. The sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., poured in 29 points on 12-of-17 from the floor while pulling down eight rebounds. The award followed two Rookie of the Week awards earned during her freshman campaign in 2016-17.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Shay Burnett was tabbed the 2017-18 CAA Preseason Player of the Year by the league's head coaches on Oct. 19. She was also picked as a First Team All-CAA honoree and was joined by
Malaya Johnson earning Second Team All-CAA laurels. The defending champion Phoenix was selected second in the CAA this season, picking up 74 points in the poll and three first-place votes. James Madison was picked to take the crown with six first-place votes and 78 points. Drexel received the 10th and final first-place vote, but was picked to finish fourth behind William & Mary.
YOUNG BLOOD
Entering 2017-18, Elon has the sixth-youngest roster in the nation with 75 percent of its players freshmen or sophomores. The roster rounds out with just three seniors and zero juniors. On a national scale, UNCG checks in with a roster comprised of 87.5 percent freshmen and sophomores to rank as the youngest squad in the country. It is followed by Florida International (80 percent), San Jose State (80 percent), Utah State (76.9 percent) and Air Force (76.5 percent).
EYES ON THE TOP 25
In the first USA TODAY Coaches poll of the season this week, Elon received two votes. It is tied for 43rd with Washington, Indiana and Rutgers. In the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major poll, Elon is No. 6 this week. It is the top-ranked CAA team in the poll. Last year, Elon garnered as many as four votes in the USA TODAY poll entering the postseason and finished the year with two. Elon also finished the 2016-17 season ranked No. 3 in the mid-major rankings behind Quinnipiac and Drake.
HOME SWEET ALUMNI GYM
Since
Charlotte Smith took over the program in 2011-12, Elon has posted a 65-20 record in Alumni Gym. Last year, the Phoenix went 11-2 at home. It has not lost more than five games in Alumni Gym in a season under Smith and has won at least 10 in all six seasons to date she's led the program. Elon's only home losses last year came in a 76-70 defeat to James Madison on Jan. 20 and a Nov. 26 loss to ACC-foe Wake Forest, 78-68.
LOOKING BACK at 2016-17
Elon earned the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament championships in 2016-17, marking the first Division I conference championships in program history. To cap the regular season, Elon defeated UNCW 82-48 at home to claim the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. At the CAA Championships, Elon took down all three of its opponents in convincing fashion on the way to punching its first-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament. As an 11-seed, Elon battled sixth-seeded West Virginia to the end, but the Mountaineers pulled away late in the fourth quarter for a 75-62 win in College Park, Md.
20-GAME WINNERS
With 27 victories last season, it marked just the second time Elon has reached the 20-win mark as a Division I program. Last time Elon reached 20 wins was in 2010-11, when the Phoenix finished 20-13 and made its first Division I postseason tournament appearance in the WBI.
MADE IT LOOK EASY
In the CAA Tournament last season, Elon defeated its opponents by an average of 24.7 points, defeating Hofstra in the quarterfinals by 28 (78-50), William & Mary in the semifinals by 28 (88-60) and James Madison in the finals by 18 (78-60). Elon shot 54.1 percent from the floor, hitting 91-of-168 shots it took across the three games. The Phoenix's 56.1 field goal percentage against William & Mary was the highest single-game percentage of the season. The stellar performance was the third-highest among the 32 conference champions and sat behind only UConn's 58.4 percent (104-178) in the AAC Tournament and Maryland's 54.6 percent (101-185) in the Big Ten Tournament.
UP NEXT
After battling Alabama and Iowa, Elon will return home for a 7 p.m. game Monday, Nov. 27, in Alumni Gym against Coker. The game is the last home game until Elon is back in Alumni Gym for the non-conference game on Dec. 19 when it takes on North Carolina Central.
--ELON--
