After a thrilling overtime win over William & Mary earlier in the season, the Elon University women’s basketball team fell short in the rematch, plagued by turnovers, and lost 64-59.
William & Mary kicked off the game with some stout defense, forcing a shot clock violation on Elon’s first offensive possession. It was a low-scoring opening minutes as fast-paced play forced fast breaks and poor shooting. Defense on both sides overwhelmed each team, forcing a rough start from the field. Elon began the game with a 13% field goal percentage, and both teams only made one of their first four shots.
A 3-pointer by junior Laila Anderson and a deep jumper from freshman phenom Jayda Angel got the offense cooking for the Phoenix as it began to get going. Elon relied heavily on the 3-point line, making five first half 3-points. They went 42% from beyond the 3-point line, a number far above its season average of 26.5%. Elon’s presence on the glass was also dominant. Redshirt sophomore Raven Preston snatched 11 rebounds just in the first half alone. Preston’s efforts allowed Elon to have a massive advantage in the rebounding department. Elon outrebounded 55-34. The Phoenix took a healthy lead in the first quarter thanks to an 8-0 run and a 3-and-half minute scoring drought by William & Mary.
However, the Tribe came out of the first quarter break on fire. They began the second quarter with 7 straight points, forcing Elon head coach Charlotte Smith to call a timeout to get her squad to regroup. William & Mary’s defense overwhelmed Elon, forcing a flurry of turnovers as Elon began to make mistakes. The Tribe also did a great job of executing their offensive plays, making dish after dish with players being wide open thanks to William & Mary’s playcalling. Senior Bella Nascimento and sophomore Cassidy Geddes led the way with 18 and 25 points, respectively.
Elon started to claw back, making five straight shots. They recaptured the lead with three minutes to go in the first half thanks to a 7-0 run that occurred over a span of 90 seconds. It wouldn’t last long, though. William & Mary snatched the lead right back, but Elon managed to take control of the back and forth game and went into the half up by four.
In the third quarter, the Phoenix came out of the half with an impressive 41% field goal percentage thanks to Preston who added on some points to her rebounds. Preston secured a double-double of 12 points and 19 rebounds. The 19 rebounds were a career high for Preston. Angel also contributed with strong shooting as she scored 10 second half points.
Smith praised Preston’s effort on her rebounds.
“Everybody in the league knows she's a great rebounder, and she did a great job of just not accepting getting blocked out, and fought to get inside position,” Smith said in the postgame press conference.
Elon was up by 8 late in the quarter but as it happened many times during the game, the Tribe refused to bow out and clawed right back, making it a one possession game.
Costly turnovers allowed William & Mary to get 11 straight points to open the fourth quarter as they recaptured the lead early in the final period. They played inspired defense, swatting balls away, creating a circle of defenders around the ball and even forcing shot clock violations. Two of the blocks were of Nascimento’s accord, and afterward, she let out a guttural scream of excitement. Turnovers were a constant source of irritation for the Phoenix, as the Tribe forced 23 turnovers — 12 less than Elon. Smith attributed the turnovers to a lack of organization on their offense.
In the fourth quarter, the tide had turned. Despite it being a home game for Elon, William & Mary’s bench and visiting crowd made it feel like unfamiliar territory for the Phoenix. Amid all of this, Elon struggled to find the basket, missing their first 11 shots. All had gone awry for the Phoenix as the players couldn’t even make free throws. Smith said turnovers were the primary reason for the loss.
“We were disrupted by their press. We did not adjust very well,” Smith said. “We had way too many turnovers which afforded them live ball turnovers which led to easy layups and 24 fast break points. That's the difference in the game.”
Sophomore Maraja Pass brings the ball up during a game against William & Mary on Jan. 31.
Throughout this scoring drought, Smith decided to let the players fix the mistakes themselves, electing to not use one of her two remaining timeouts.
“Their job is to figure it out. I can’t always save them with timeouts,” Smith said. “I had to use way too many timeouts anyway. We got to the end of the game, and I didn’t even have timeouts to call, to even draw up a play. Sometimes you just have to let them figure it out.”
Senior Iycez Adams broke the streak with a layup after almost eight minutes of not scoring. It seemed to light a fire in the Phoenix as Angel got two immediate steals and two baskets along with it to make it a 2 point game. The Schar Center crowd erupted as William & Mary called a timeout, trying to stem a late comeback.
Smith was impressed by Angel’s clutch steals and said they gave the team momentum.
“She can defend anybody in the league,” Smith said. “She was able to get easy, what we call ‘cookies,’ when she stole the ball. She did that multiple times, which gave us momentum.”
Coming out of the timeout, Nascimento hit a clutch jumper and on the following possession, Elon lost control of the ball and turned the ball over yet again.
However, the Phoenix were gifted a chance with 27 seconds left as William & Mary missed two late free throws, up by three. Smith called a timeout as Elon needed a 3-pointer to send it to overtime. But as it had been the case all day, turnovers proved to be the downfall for Elon. Following the timeout, William & Mary intercepted the inbound pass and secured the victory.
Elon fell to 11-8 and 5-3 in conference play and will attempt to bounce back against Monmouth at 1 p.m. Feb. 2 at Schar Center.