Junior guard Kelsey Harris hit the game-winning jump shot with 47 seconds remaining to put the Phoenix up by a point that gave the Elon University women’s basketball team a thrilling 62-58 victory Wednesday night, Feb. 20 against the visiting Wofford College Terriers.
The two teams went back and forth in the early going of the first half until an Elon went on an 8-0 run to lead 22-14. Elon looked to extend its largest lead of eight in the opening period, but the Terriers hung around.
Wofford freshman guard Chanel Stokes made a jumper in the closing seconds of the first half to give the Terriers the lead going into the locker room. Nineteen of Wofford’s 31 first half points were the direct result of Elon’s 10 turnovers.
“We got off to a slow start and we did not take care of the basketball,” Elon coach Charlotte Smith.
Neither team was able to take control of the game as the second half got underway. After Harris tied the game at 39, Wofford was the first side to try and extend their lead with a mini 6-0 run, which was capped off by senior guard Morgan Wrightson’s lay-up.
Harris came up clutch again for the Phoenix down the stretch, making a layup that gave Elon its first lead of the half at 55-54 with four minutes to go. Wrightson regained the lead for Wofford at 58-57 with 1:27 remaining in the game, but it was Harris’ shot with 47 seconds remaining that gave Elon a lead that they would maintain until the final whistle.
“(Senior guard) Ali Ford just saw me open,” Harris said. “I shot it and it went in.”
A pair of free-throws from senior forward Kelsey Evans, and another free-throw from Harris sealed the victory over the Southern Conference’s last place team
Wofford may be struggling this season, but they had Elon’s respect from the start.
“Wofford’s a tough team to play,” Harris said. “Their record doesn’t really speak to how hard they play.”
Evans lead the way for Elon scoring 21 points on just 6-15 shooting. She knocked down 9 of 12 attempted free throws while grabbing 7 rebounds.
“We felt like we could capitalize if we could get the ball in the paint,” Evans said.
Though it was Evans leading the way in the game for the Phoenix, Harris led the second half. She scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half, including the game winning shot. Like Evans, Harris made her free throws count, shooting 8-10 from the line.
Evans described Harris’ late jumper as a “clutch…big time shot.” Ford was the only other player for the Phoenix in double figures. The senior guard scored 11 points while grabbing two steals.
For Wofford, Wrightson had a team-high 14 points while center Daniella Motley had 12 points of her own, but needed 14 shots to do so. Freshman guard Ashton Fleming came off the bench to score 10 points. She narrowly missed out on a double-double, finishing with a game high 9 rebounds.
The hard-fought contest was full of fouls, as each team found themselves in the double bonus early in the second half. In total, there were 42 fouls, yet no one fouled out.
Regarding the whistle-happy officiating, Evans commented, “There were a lot of whistles, but that’s just stuff we can’t control.”
With Elon and Wofford shooting 40 and 41 percent respectively, the difference came from the free-throw line. Wofford shot a dismal 42 percent where as Elon shot a respectable 69 percent.
With the win, Elon improves to 14-11 on the season and 11-5 in the Southern Conference. The loss drops Wofford to 7-17 on the season and 2-14 in conference play.
Elon returns to the floor Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. on the road against Furman University.