Philadelphia, Pa. – The Elon women's basketball team rallied back from a 16-point third quarter deficit but was unable to get over the top as the College of Charleston upended the Phoenix 70-59 in the CAA quarterfinals Friday afternoon on the campus of Drexel University.
Elon's season comes to a close with a record of 17-12, an improvement over 7-8 during a COVID-impacted 2020-21 season. It was Elon's best record since going 25-8 and winning the CAA Tournament in 2017-18. Charleston improves to 18-12 with the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
- There were three ties and four lead changes during the first 10 minutes as neither team was able to take control of the game.
- Despite eight turnovers in the frame, Elon came away with a 13-13 tie.
SECOND QUARTER
- Charleston used a 10-0 run to build a 23-15 lead but Elon chipped away at the deficit.
- Ariana Nance had a beautiful reverse layup on the fast break to bring the Phoenix within four.
- Brie Perpignan knocked down a corner three off an inbounds play to make it 27-24 with 2:36 to go in the half.
- With Charleston leading 29-26 late, Kayla Liles swished a three-pointer from just inside the half court stripe. Initially, it was ruled a good shot but upon review, the shot was ruled to have come after the shot clock had expired and the Phoenix trailed by three at the break.
THIRD QUARTER
- Charleston opened the third quarter with a pair of three-pointers and pushed the lead to 16 points at 48-32 before Elon began to rally.
- Kayla Liles scored five points and Evonna McGill added four during a 9-0 run that brought Elon to within seven at 48-41.
- Charleston, though, scored the final four points of the quarter to go ahead by 11 heading into the fourth
FOURTH QUARTER
- Liles connected from long range and McGill scored inside as Elon closed to within six. Vannessa Taylor then made a lay-up to make it 52-48.
- Charleston clung to a six-point lead before a pair of free-throws from Tyja Traore and a jumper from Liles brought the Phoenix within two at 56-54.
- McGill scored in the paint with 1:35 left to keep it a one-possession game at 62-59 but Charleston answered with a lay-up and Elon was unable to score down the stretch.
STATS AND NOTES
- McGill led Elon with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting. She also had 10 rebounds for a double-double.
- Perpignan had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Phoenix.
- Liles finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
- Elon shot 39 percent for the contest and held Charleston to 36 percent shooting, but the Cougars attempted 15 more field goals.
- Many of those extra attempts were due to 20 Elon turnovers to just seven for Charleston.
- Elon did outrebound Charleston 44-38 and was 11-of-14 at the free-throw line.
- Elon blocked seven shots during the contest.
-- ELON --