| Elon Phoenix (16-7, 8-4 CAA) vs. College of Charleston Cougars (6-18, 2-11 CAA) |
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ELON, N.C. – Riding a four-game winning streak, Elon University women's basketball will welcome College of Charleston to Alumni Gym on Sunday, Feb. 11, for the second matchup in 10 days between the two sides. Sunday's game is Elon's annual Play4Kay Game and will air on Phoenix All-Access. The game can also be heard on WSOE 89.3 FM with Riley Beal and Tom Castle calling the action.
THE SERIES
Elon and Charleston have met 30 times to date with Elon holding a 16-14 lead in the series. As former Southern Conference rivals, the Phoenix has won 12 of the last 13 meetings between the two and
Charlotte Smith is 10-1 against CofC. Just 10 days ago, Elon earned a 77-55 victory in Charleston.
ABOUT COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
College of Charleston snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 72-63 win at UNCW on Friday night. The victory is Charleston's first of 2018 with its previous win coming on New Year's Eve at Towson. The Cougars are now ninth in the CAA ahead of 1-11 UNCW. Tanisha Brown is the only Cougar averaging double figures with 12.3 points per game. She also leads Charleston with 8.4 rebounds per contest and 0.6 blocks per outing. Shiclasia Brown paces CofC with 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 35.9 minutes per game. College of Charleston is led by fourth-year head coach Candice M. Jackson. She is 31-84 in three-plus seasons with the Cougars.
LAST TIME OUT
Elon dominated the glass by outrebounding Drexel 47-28 on Friday night in a 70-58 home win over the Dragons. Drexel didn't pull down its first offensive rebound until there was 2:34 to play in the third quarter and it only had three all night. Elon's 70 points is the third-most Drexel has allowed in a game this season and the first time it has allowed more than 58 since No. 24 Syracuse scored 72 back on Dec. 9.
Lexi Mercer finished with a career-high 14 points. The sophomore made 5-of-8 shots with three of those falling from three-point range.
Malaya Johnson posted her ninth-career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and
Jada Graves finished with a game-high 15 points. While battling foul trouble,
Shay Burnett posted eight points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
PLAY4KAY SUNDAY
Sunday afternoon's contest against Charleston is Elon's annual Play4Kay Game to honor the late Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow. Coach Yow was Elon's first head coach in program history back in the 1970s and had an excellent run with the program before moving on to NC State, where she coached current Phoenix assistant coach
Cristy McKinney. Coach Yow passed away on Jan. 24, 2009, after a long battle with cancer, but her legacy lives on in the many student-athletes she coached and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund that was created to help raise money for research to fight cancer. In addition to wearing pink to Sunday's game, please consider donating to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund on
elonphoenix.com/play4kay to help Elon's student-athletes reach their goal of raising $1,000 for the organization.
FREE PIZZA FEBRUARY
Driven by Thomas Tire & Automotive, Elon students in attendance at all Phoenix men's and women's home games will get free pizza at the student entrance to Alumni Gym. This month, the men's team has one more scheduled home game and the women two after Sunday's game against some of the conference's best competition. Crust us, you don't want to miss this.
WHO TO WATCH AGAINST THE COUGARS
Last time Elon and College of Charleston met just 10 days ago on Friday, Feb. 2,
Malaya Johnson posted 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with a pair of blocks in the 77-55 victory. Johnson has hit her stride of late, most recently posting her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds in Elon's 15th-straight home victory Friday night against Drexel.
DEFENSE WINS...
In the last seven games, Elon's defense has been as strong as ever in allowing just 53.0 points per game going back to Jan. 19 against Towson. During the run, Elon is 6-1 with the lone loss a 58-56 defeat at Drexel on Jan. 26. Each of Elon's first five CAA opponents all shot at least 39.3 percent with Delaware's 50.9 on Jan. 5 the highest. During that stretch, Elon was 2-3 and allowed 73.8 points per game. 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).
15 AND COUNTING
Riding a 15-game winning streak in Alumni Gym, it marks the longest unbeaten run at home in Elon's D-I history. The current streak started Feb. 3, 2017, with an 83-55 win over Towson. Before that, Elon had seven D-I streaks reach five in a row with a pair hitting 11 (Nov. 26, 2002 to Feb. 15, 2003 and Dec. 13, 2012 to March 20, 2013). Under
Charlotte Smith, Elon has won at least five in a row at home four times.
HOME SWEET ALUMNI GYM
Elon is 73-20 in Alumni Gym since
Charlotte Smith took over before the 2011-12 season and is 10-0 this year. Last year, the Phoenix went 11-2 at home. Elon has not lost more than five games at home in a season under Smith and has won at least 10 in all six seasons she's led the program. Elon's last home loss came Jan. 20 in a 76-70 loss to James Madison. The other home loss last season was a 10-point defeat on Nov. 26 against ACC-foe Wake Forest, 78-68.
TOPS IN THE COUNTRY
As a team, Elon's +8.3 rebounding margin is 21st-best in the country. Its 43.4 boards per contest is 17th, its 998 total boards is 34th and its 19.4 turnovers forced per outing ranks 41st. Allowing opponents to shoot 36.1 percent from the floor this season, that ranks as the 18th-best mark in the country. Elon has reached the free throw line 535 times this season, which ranks it the ninth-most frequent visitor to the charity stripe in the country and the 370 makes is 11th-most nationally. It's .692 percentage, though, checks in at No. 190 of 349 teams.
#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.
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. The senior picked up her second award in three weeks when she again claimed the honor on Monday, Feb. 5, after averaging 15.0 points per game in two wins over James Madison and College of Charleston.
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 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.
PRACTICE WITH THE COMMISH
As part of the #JoeyDvsCAAChamps series, CAA commissioner Joe D'Antonio practiced with the team Wednesday, Jan. 24, in Alumni Gym. Commissioner D'Antonio joined Elon for the 90-minute practice, running drills throughout before finishing the morning with free throw practice. To close, he hit five free throws in a row.
UP NEXT
Elon will head out on its longest road trip of the season when it visits Hofstra and Northeastern next weekend. First, the Phoenix will take on Hofstra on Friday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. before meeting Northeastern on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. Friday's game against Hofstra will be the first of the season between the Phoenix and Pride. Elon beat Northeastern back on Jan. 7 in Alumni Gym by the final score of 78-71.
--ELON--
