ELON – The Elon women's basketball team opens the 2026-27 season by welcoming UNC Pembroke Monday night. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Schar Center.
GAME INFORMATION
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
- Series record: UNC Pembroke leads, 17-12
- Elon and UNC Pembroke will meet for the first time in over a decade, with the Phoenix winning the previous four matchups.
STARTING FIVE
- PHOENIX RELOADED
- Elon returns nine players from its 2025-26 roster, bringing back significant experience and continuity.
- The Phoenix added no transfers this offseason, instead building out the rest of its 2026-27 roster with five incoming freshmen.
- Elon returns its leading scorer from 2025-26 in LaNae' Corbett, who averaged 11.7 points per game last season and earned All-CAA Third Team honors.
- The Phoenix also welcomes back top rebounder Tamia Watkins, who led the team on the glass and finished the 2025-26 season averaging 5.6 rebounds per game.
- Ashanti Fox returns for her sophomore season after a standout freshman campaign that saw her earn three CAA Rookie of the Week honors.
- Jayda Angel returns to the Phoenix lineup after missing the majority of the 2025-26 season due to injury and enters the 2026-27 campaign as a Preseason All-CAA Third Team selection. She earned CAA Rookie of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year honors in 2024-25.
- Kamry Doty, who missed two full seasons due to injury earlier in her collegiate career, returns for her sixth season with the Phoenix, bringing valuable leadership and experience on both ends of the court.
- PRESEASON PRAISE
- Elon was picked to finish second in the 2026-27 CAA Preseason Poll, the Phoenix's highest preseason selection since 2017-18, as voted on by the league's head women's basketball coaches.
- Corbett and Angel were both named to the Preseason All-CAA Second Team.
- Corbett returns for her second season with the Phoenix after earning All-CAA Third Team honors in 2025-26. She averaged 11.7 points per game, reached double figures 19 times, and ranked second in the CAA with a .483 field-goal percentage.
- Corbett shot 50% or better in 15 games and set Elon's single-game program record for field-goal percentage, shooting 87.5% (14-for-16) against Hampton.
- Angel, the 2024-25 CAA Rookie of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year, appeared in just two games last season before suffering a season-ending injury. As a freshman, she averaged 9.9 points and 1.6 steals per game and earned a league-best five CAA Rookie of the Week honors.
- A PHOENIX COMES HOME
- Shay Burnett '18 returns to Elon as an assistant coach after one of the most accomplished playing careers in program history from 2014-18, marking her first collegiate coaching position.
- A Graham, North Carolina, native, Burnett was a three-time First Team All-CAA selection and the 2017-18 CAA Preseason Player of the Year, while also earning CAA All-Rookie Team honors in 2014-15.
- Burnett finished her Elon career with 1,567 points, 894 rebounds and 563 assists in 128 games, becoming one of just six players in CAA history to reach 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds.
- She helped lead the Phoenix to back-to-back CAA Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018, earning CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2018.
- Burnett will be inducted into the Elon Sports Hall of Fame in January as part of the 2026-27 class, adding another honor to a decorated year after recently being inducted into the Southern Alamance High School Hall of Fame.
- FRESH FACES
- Elon added five freshmen to the roster: Macayla Askew, Skylar Bolden, Norah Fuld, Sidney Smith, and Savannah Whitley.
- Askew was a three-year varsity player at Derby High School, earning 2024-25 Kansas 6A First Team All-League honors and two AVCTL First Team All-League selections from 2023-25.
- Bolden, a forward from New Castle, Delaware, led her high school teams to three consecutive DIAA State Championship appearances, taking the trophy in 2023-24.
- Fuld, a 2024 NEPSAC All-Star from Westport, Connecticut, will miss the 2026-27 season due to injury.
- Smith was a standout at Roselle Park High School, becoming New Jersey's leading high school women's basketball scorer with 2,069 career points while earning 2026 All-County First Team and 2025 Second Team All-State honors.
- Whitley, a forward from Laurel, Maryland, played at St. Vincent High School while playing AAU for Boo Williams.
- SEASON REWIND
- Elon finished the 2025-26 season 16-16 overall and 10-8 in CAA play, reaching 10 conference wins for the first time since the 2017-18 season, when the Phoenix won 14 CAA games.
- The Phoenix finished seventh in the CAA standings and defeated Hampton in the second round of the CAA Tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2020 before falling to Drexel.
SUPPORT THE PHOENIX
Fans can support Elon Athletics through the
Phoenix Club. To purchase 2026-27 Elon women's basketball tickets,
visit ElonTickets.com.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Elon women's basketball, follow the Phoenix on X @
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elonwbasketball.
