The Elon University women’s basketball team dropped at tight contest on Monday, Feb. 11, 65-59 loss to the Samford University Bulldogs. The loss is Elon's third in the last four games.

Senior forward Kelsey Evans led Elon in scoring with 21 points on 6-12 shooting. Evans also pulled down seven rebounds.

Ali Ford had 13 points of her own despite having a rough shooting night. The senior guard shot just 4-15 from the field and 2-11 from behind the arc.

Senior guard Jazmine Martin had a game high 23 points for Samford.  She shot 8-13 from the field and made four 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Taylor Reece chipped in 18 points and senior forward Hannah Dawson grabbed 10 boards.

Evans scored Elon’s first nine points of the game while the team fell behind 16-9.  However, a 7-0 run by the Phoenix tied the game up.  Samford was able to reestablish their lead before a three from sophomore guard Zora Stevenson and a field goal from senior guard Shon Redmond cut the deficit to just one.  However, five straight points from Krista Strickland gave Samford a 31-25 lead going into halftime.

The Bulldogs were able to further extend their lead to 12 in the second half and held a 50-38 lead with nine minutes left in the contest. The Phoenix trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, but were able to cut the lead to five at 57-52 with less than two minutes to play. Elon then was able to make the deficit only four, but Samford prevailed and escaped with a six-point win

Elon did not shoot particularly well, shooting just 36 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc. The Phoenix were able to shoot a solid 86 percent from the free-throw line, however.

Samford shot about the same to finish the game at 38 percent from the field. However, the Bulldogs shot 44 percent from 3-point range. Samford outrebounded Elon slightly, 34-32, and also forced one more turnover than the Phoenix (12-11)

With the win, Samford gets back to .500 at 12-12 and 9-6 in the Southern Conference. With the loss, Elon drops to 12-11 and 9-5 in conference play. The Phoenix will wrap up their three-game road trip on Saturday, Feb. 16 when they take on conference and in-state rival University of North Carolina Greensboro. Tip is set for 2 p.m. in Greensboro.