With the season winding down, the Elon University women’s basketball team will have to work to earn any high seed it envisions for itself in the Southern Conference Tournament.

The Phoenix plays Davidson College and Appalachian State University, two of the three best teams in the SoCon, on Feb. 11 and Feb. 13, respectively. Both teams beat Elon earlier in the season. But the Phoenix is a different squad now.

After winning two games last week, including a 76-58 victory over Furman University in the team’s annual Play4Kay game benefitting the Kay Yow Cancer Foundation, the Phoenix has taken six of its eight games and is on a serious roll.

The win against Furman ended a brief two-game losing skid. After getting blown out on the road by Samford University and Chattanooga, first-year head coach Charlotte Smith noted a difference in intensity.

“On a scale of 1-10, I’d say on the road we were at maybe a six,” Smith said. “Tonight I felt like we were at least nine and a half for most of the game (against Furman).”

Two nights later, the Phoenix was at it again, beating UNC-Greensboro 69-50.

Elon sits in fifth place in the conference. Wins this weekend can  push them up, but losses can drop them down at a crucal time momentum-wise.

“We have to be intense,” junior forward Kelsey Evans said. “We’re right in the middle right now of the conference and we’re either going to go up or down. We have to decide.”

Davidson out-rebounded the Phoenix 44-35 in the Wildcats’ 77-65 home win Jan. 4. The battle of the boards has been key all season. Elon is 10-0 when outrebounding opponents, but 2-9 when they are outworked on the glass. Smith has made made that area one of focus for the Phoenix.

“We gotta continue to focus on rebounding,” Smith said. “They talk about defense and rebounding. Those are the things that win championships.”

A bad first half cost the Phoenix when it met the Mountaineers Jan. 7. Appalachian State took a 45-21 lead into the locker room, plenty of cushion in a 72-58 win. The Phoenix defense allowed Appalachian State to shoot 28-58 (48.3 percent) from the floor and will need to improve.

With just six games left in the regular season and the top five teams in the Southern Conference receiving byes through the first round of the conference tournament, the Phoenix has something to play for. It won’t be easy.