About eight minutes into the second half of Sunday night's game between the Elon University and University of North Carolina at Wilmington women's basketball teams, there was a minor clash between Elon senior forward Kelsey Evans and UNCW senior forw

ard Karneshia Garrett as they scuffled for a rebound. The referees separated the two players and told both teams’ coaches to calm their players down.

Simply a peak of the chippy play exhibited by the two teams all night long.

The Elon women’s basketball team battled against a strong UNCW team to pull out a 67-61 win Sunday night in Alumni Gym.

The Phoenix (2-1) came out with a full court press, and back-and-forth shooting followed for the first eight minutes of the game. Then Elon slowly increased its lead to as much as 11 points, keying on strong defensive and offensive rebounding and early steals by senior guard Shon Redmond.

With 5:33 left in the first half, UNCW (0-3) battled back, going on 7-0 run over a span of 2:29 to bring the score within four points.

But Elon was able to end the half leading 37-30.

The Seahawks came back strong in the second half, something Evans said was expected.

“We knew they were going to come out hard in the second half,” Evans said. “Coach Smith warned us they would come back with a vengeance.”

And that they did with emotions running high between the teams and the fans. Some questionable calls against both teams only seemed the increase the tension more.

Even with the level of emotion throughout the game, head coach Charlotte Smith said she would rather have that than no passion at all.

“I like that fire, and I like that atmosphere as long as it doesn’t turn into an all-out brawl,” she said. “You have to want to compete.”

With 12:15 left in the game, the Seahawks continued their push back, going on another 7-0 run to take the lead for the first time since four minutes into the game. They increased that lead to six points, their largest lead of the game with 5:12 left to play.

Elon senior guard Ali Ford, who had a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, tied the game back up with 2:53 left to play by hitting a three-pointer and then being fouled attempting another, sinking all three of her free throw shots.

Two quick jump shots, one by freshman guard Jessica Farmer and one by Redmond, and two free throws from Evans clinched a six-point lead that Elon would not lose again.

Evans finished with her second double-double finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

It was a record night for Redmond, who tied an Elon record with 10 steals.

Smith remarked on Redmond’s intensity as a game changer for the Phoenix.

“Shon Redmond, she always changes the competition of the game,” Smith said. “She brings toughness to the game. She brought a lot of toughness to our perimeter defense and made some big steals with it counted.

After the game, Evans joked about the small tiff she had on the court.

“They like to go for the face,” she said. “It was a little rough, but it showed the effort our team has. That kind of effort is so promising. You can’t really teach that; that refuse to lose attitude.”

The Phoenix will take on American University in its next game at 2 p.m. Nov. 24 in Alumni Gym.

Game Notes

  • The last time these two teams met was in 2007, and UNCW won that game 73-68.
  • Elon sophomore forward Sam Coffer also grabbed ten boards for the Phoenix as the maroon and gold were able to control the glass, grabbing a 49-34 advantage in rebounding. Led by Evans' five offensive boards, the Phoenix also won that battle 19-8.
  • Garrett lead the Seahawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while senior center Chelsea McGowen added ten points and nine rebounds.
  • In key points situations, the Phoenix and the Seahawks were close. Points in the paint: Elon 26, UNCW 22. Points off turnovers: Elon 19, UNCW 16. But, second chance points: Elon 17, UNCW 9.