ASHEVILLE – With 13:55 remaining in the game, the Elon University women’s basketball team found themselves in a 17-point hole in the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament. The final, a 10-point deficit at 71-61, was not indicative of the furious Elon comeback that fell just short.
“I can’t take anything away from Davidson,” said Elon head coach Charlotte Smith. “They’re a great defensive team. We fought the entire 40 minutes, even when we got ourselves in a big deficit, we had to continue to fight from there.”
Even Davidson head coach Michele Savage breathed a sigh of relief knowing her team was able to get out of the second semifinal with the victory.
“I’m just happy that game is over,” she said.
Eight days ago on senior day in Alumni Gym, Elon held junior guard Laura Murray to 14 points and senior forward Sophia Aleksandravicius to 13 points in a 72-56 win over the visiting Wildcats.
“Sometimes we get inside of our own heads,” Savage said. “Thinking about (last week’s game), we really had nothing riding on that game. We were going to be second place no matter what. So trying to get the team up and motivated just to play, we struggled with that.”
The duo exploded when it counted, though, as Murray finished with 25 points after scoring 16 in the first half to eclipse her total from the week prior. Aleksandravicius recorded a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
“Sometimes Laura is in the zone, and she just happened to be in the zone against Elon today,” Savage said. “When she’s feeling it, she ca make anything from anywhere on the floor.”
With 13:55 to play, Murray hit a jump shot to give her Wildcats the 17-point lead at 48-31. To that point, she had held Elon senior guard Ford to zero points on 0-6 shooting. Ford wouldn’t be held down much longer as she finally broke the scoreless run with 10:34 left in the game on a three-pointer from the top right side of the perimeter.
“All game, (Murray) was pretty much in my shorts,” Ford said. “To be a good player, you have to know how to adapt and adapt quickly. That’s where I struggled tonight. She played great defense.”
Through the next 9:31, Ford would bring the Phoenix back within reach of the Wildcats, going on an 18-6 run to make it a four-point game at 56-52. Then, Murray did what she did all afternoon: make shots. This time, she knocked down a layup through a blocking foul on sophomore Shannen Cochraham.
Murray made the free throw to get the Wildcats a six-point advantage, and the Phoenix would come no closer than that margin again.
“They outrebounded us and we weren’t as focused on our assignments today,” said Elon senior forward Kesley Evans. “Defensively, we weren’t as good as we were last week. That’s what it pretty much boils down to.”
Murray and Aleksandravicius were the only two Davidson players to reach double digits. Senior guard Barbara Sitton was the team’s third leading scorer with just six points.
The Phoenix got some much needed life-support from Cochraham and freshman guard Jessica Farmer early in the first half, as the pair scored the first eight points for Elon before Evans became the first starter to crack the score sheet.
Farmer finished with eight points on 4-7 shooting while Cochraham was the team’s second leading scorer with 14 points. She made her first six shots before missing her first and only shot down the stretch with 2:47 left.
“I commend both Shannen and Jessica,” Smith said. “They were very focused and came in and made shots for us. They were very solid off the bench.”
Elon finishes the season with an overall record of 18-13, two more wins than Smith’s first season at the helm in 2011-2012. Finishing five games over .500 gives a sliver of hope the Phoenix could continue Evans, Redmond and Ford’s careers, even if for one more game.
“We had a very solid regular season,” Smith said. “We played some great teams and beat some great teams, so I really feel like we have a chance to play in the postseason.”
Davidson moves on to the play the winner of the first semifinal, the top-seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Lady Mocs topped No. 4 seed Appalachian State University 72-67.