| Elon Phoenix (12-7, 4-4 CAA) at Towson Tigers (8-11, 3-5 CAA) |
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ELON, N.C. – Looking to earn its first CAA road win of the season, Elon University women's basketball will visit Towson on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 28, for a 2 p.m. contest inside SECU Arena. The game can be seen live on CAA.tv and over the airwaves on WSOE 89.3 FM with Andrew Vendelis and Drew Gentry on the call.
THE SERIES
Elon has won six of seven meetings to date between the Phoenix and Tigers, including each of the last four. The two teams met last Friday, Jan. 19, in Alumni Gym, where Elon earned an 84-61 victory over the Tigers behind five Phoenix in double figures on the night.
ABOUT TOWSON
Having not played since Sunday, Jan. 21, Towson enters Sunday's game on a seven-day break. The Tigers won last time out, beating College of Charleston 83-58 inside TD Arena in Charleston behind 22 points from Raine Bankston and 21 from Mary Cuevas. The Tigers are 3-2 in their last five games after starting CAA play 0-2. Their wins have come against William & Mary, UNCW and College of Charleston. Cuevas leads the Tigers with 14.5 points per contest and a 52.6 shooting percentage to go with 9.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per outing. Etalyia Vogt averages 2.7 assists and 2.2 steals per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Elon led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, but Drexel stormed back in the final seven minutes to win a 58-56 game in Philadelphia on Friday night. The Dragons closed the night on a 16-4 run to claim the win.
Malaya Johnson led all players with a season-high 20 points on 10-of-13 from the floor. In all, Elon shot better than 53 percent, marking the best percentage in a loss since shooting 55 percent (33-of-60) on Feb. 12, 2015, in an 86-82 loss to UNCW.
#MALAYA1K
Malaya Johnson became the 24th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point club on Sunday, Jan. 21, when she scored 16 points and had 13 rebounds against Delaware. The senior is the fourth player in the last two seasons to reach 1,000 points after Lauren Brown,
Shay Burnett and Jenifer Rhodes each reached the milestone in 2016-17.
TOPS IN THE COUNTRY
With 5.9 assists per game,
Shay Burnett ranks 25th in the nation. Her 107 total assists are the 34th-most in the country. As a team, Elon's +8.4 rebounding margin is 26th-best in the country. Its 43.2 boards per contest is 23rd-best and its 19.7 turnovers forced per outing ranks 44th. Elon has reached the free throw line 452 times this season, which ranks it the 10th-most frequent visitor to the charity stripe in the country. It's .697 percentage, though, checks in at No. 168 of 345 teams nationally.
DEFENSIVE GOALS
Elon aims to keep its opponents under 40 percent from the field in any given game. Only once during non-conference play did a team shoot above 39 percent (Iowa, 44.9). In CAA play, each of Elon's first five opponents shot at least 39.3 percent from the field with UNCW at 39.3, Delaware at 50.9, Northeastern at 39.7, James Madison at 42.9 and William & Mary at 48.4. But each of its last three have been under 40.
CAA WEEKLY AWARDS
Following a strong opening night,
Ra'Shika White 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.
Malaya Johnson earned Elon's second CAA Player of the Week award on Jan. 22 when she scored 16 points against Towson and Delaware and had a double-double with 13 points against the Blue Hens while surpassing the 1,000-career point mark in the process.
Saadia Munford earned Elon's first CAA Rookie of the Week honor of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 26, after scoring six points to go with a career-best 10 assists in a 28-point win over NC Central on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The Atlanta native scored or assisted on 28 points in the victory. She then collected another Rookie of the Week award Jan. 22 after a strong overall weekend in two wins over Towson and Delaware.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
In 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).
PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
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.
HOME SWEET ALUMNI GYM
Since
Charlotte Smith took over the program in 2011-12, Elon has posted a 71-20 record in Alumni Gym and 8-0 this season. 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. Since the loss to JMU, the Phoenix has won 13 in a row in Alumni Gym.
UP NEXT
Closing a three-game road trip, Elon will meet College of Charleston on Friday, Feb. 2, at 6:30 p.m. Though Elon will finish its regular-season series with a pair of CAA teams Sunday, it will meet Charleston for the first time next week. Following Friday's game, the only team Elon will have not yet played against in the CAA is Hofstra, and the Phoenix wont meet the Pride until Friday, Feb. 16.
--ELON--
