The Elon Woman’s Basketball team fell to the Appalachian State Mountaineers 80-62 Saturday afternoon in Boone, N.C. After winning seven straight conference games, the loss comes as Elon's second loss in their last three games. The Phoenix failed to get into any shooting rhythm throughout, only shooting 30 percent from the field and a meek 17 percent from behind the arc.
Senior guard Ali Ford led the way in scoring for the Phoenix with 18 points despite fouling out with just over four minutes left in the game. Ford was the only Elon player in double figures on the afternoon, but freshmen Jessica Farmer and Autumn Carter provided bright spots off the bench by contributing 8 points each.
Unlike the Phoenix, Appalachian State shot lights-out all game. The Mountaineers finished shooting 47 percent from the field while hitting 6 of 12 from beyond the arc. Senior forward Anna Freeman’s 26 points on 11-19 shooting for the Mountaineers was a game high. She also had 10 rebounds to complete a double-double. Maryah Sydnor and Kelsey Sharkey were also finished in double figures, scoring 19 and 10 points respectively.
The Mountaineers never trailed throughout in large part to a first half 17-5 run which extended their lead to 26-14. Despite a late push from Elon, the Mountaineers went into halftime with a 36-26 lead.
A 14-7 run to start the second half for Appalachian State extended their lead even further to 17. The largest lead for the Mountaineers came later in the second half when they lead by 22.
Appalachian State’s large lead throughout the game was not only due to their hot shooting and Elon’s poor shooting, however. A tenacious Appalachian State defense forced Elon to commit 24 turnovers. The Mountaineers capitalized by scoring 24 points off of those turnovers.
With the win, Appalachian State improves its record to 13-5 and 7-3 in the Southern Conference. The loss drops Elon to 11-9 on the season, 8-3 in conference play.
Elon will look to bounce back quickly from their disappointing performance on Monday, Feb. 4 when they pull out the pink in honor of the late Kay Yow in the annual "Play4Kay" game. Yow's first collegiate head coaching job was at Elon. She led the Phoenix from 1971 until 1975 when she left to become the first full-time head coach of the women's basketball program at North Carolina State University.
Tip is set for 7 p.m. against Western Carolina University, a team who the Phoenix topped 64-48 in Cullowhee, N.C. on Dec. 3.