CONWAY, S.C. – Elon University women's basketball suffered a 14-9 loss Friday afternoon, March 16, to Winthrop in a neutral-site game at Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.
 
THE RUNDOWN
The Phoenix jumped out to an early 2-1 lead with a pair of tallies within 60 seconds from Summer Larese and Quinn Daly nearly 10 minutes into the afternoon. After Winthrop knotted the game at 2-2,  Melissa Birdsell put Elon back on top 3-2 with 15:04 left in the half and Stephanie Asher scored Elon's fourth goal with 7:40 to play in the opening 30 minutes after Winthrop had gone on a two-goal run to take the lead.
 
With the game tied at 4-4, the Eagles went on a 4-0 run to close the first half in the final 6:41 of the frame to double the Phoenix and take an 8-4 lead to the break. Out of halftime, Asher and Birdsell tallied to cut the lead in half at 8-6, but Winthrop again went on a 4-0 run to push the lead to as many as six at 12-6 with 14:04 to play.
 
Down the stretch, the Phoenix Cami Lynch started a 3-0 run with Larese and Asher both adding goals to come within three at 12-9 with 4:17 to play, but the Eagles closed the afternoon with two goals in the last four minutes to take the 14-9 win.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Asher led Elon with three goals to go with six draw controls. Both Birdsell and Larese tallied twice with Birdsell also coming up with two ground balls and two draw controls. Shannon Horan picked up four ground balls and had one caused turnover while Bridget Lamb had three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Nicole Beatson scored half of Winthrop's goals with seven on the afternoon to go with an assist for eight points. She also had three draw controls on the day. Katherine Judge, Allie Yeager and Bianca Tedesco all tallied twice while Judge picked up a game-high eight draw controls. Kristen Shriver finished her afternoon with five assists and two draw controls.
 
UP NEXT
Staying in South Carolina this weekend, Elon will take on Coastal Carolina on Sunday, March 18, at 1 p.m. at Brooks Stadium. The Phoenix is 4-0 all-time against the Chanticleers.