Davidson Falls in Closing Seconds at Elon, 61-60

Monday, December 20

Elon, NC

6:00 p.m.

Davidson College

4-4 (0-1)

Elon

6-4 (1-2)

Davidson

Elon

Junior Amanda Ottaway had a career-best 11 points off the bench.

Davidson Falls in Closing Seconds at Elon, 61-60

12/20/2010 8:58:48 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID

Box Score

ELON, N.C. — Elon's Shon Redmond's three-point play with 18.3 seconds left helped lift the Phoenix a comeback win, 61-60, in the closing seconds as Davidson saw its three-game win streak come to an end on Monday night in women's Southern Conference basketball action at Alumni Gym.

Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) canned a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining to give Davidson (4-4, 0-1 SoCon) a brief 60-58 lead.

Elon (6-4, 1-2 SoCon), which had no timeouts left, raced down the floor and Redmond split a pair of Wildcat defenders in the lane, throwing the ball up and drawing a foul as the shot fell in. Redmond finished off the play with a free throw.

Davidson then called a timeout to set up its last play with 18.3 ticks. The Wildcats worked the ball around the arc and with time running down, Laura Murray (Harrisburg, Pa.) grabbed a pass at the free throw line, turned and fired off a shot, but the ball hit off the iron and rolled off as the buzzer sounded.

The shot was the only blemish for the freshman in the half as she dropped in 16 second-period points and helped bring the Wildcats back from an 11-point deficit. She finished with a game-high 22 points, the second time this year she has clipped the 20-point mark.

Murray opened the half scoring 10 of the 'Cats first 13 points, including 10 straight with her last three tying the score at 36-all. She later buried bak-to-back treys to cut the Elon lead down to three, 48-45, with 8:56 on the clock. The freshman hit a season-best 4-of-6 from behind the three-line.

Also clipping the double-digit mark in points was Amanda Ottaway (Holidaysburg, Pa.) with a career-best 11 points off the bench. She scored eight of those in the first half, doing a solid job filling in for Aleksandravicius, who picked up two quick early fouls and had to sit out most the half.

Aleksandravicius, the 'Cats leading scorer was held to eight points, 10 below her season average. The sophomore did pocket a personal-best five steals and Davidson had a season-high 12 for the game.

Elon put three players in double figures for the second straight game, with Lei?Lei Hairston scoring 14 points, while Redmond and Ford chipped in 13 each.

Davidson took its first lead of the game, 58-57, on a fastbreak floater in the lane by freshman Shneeka Center (Smithtown, N.Y.) with 2:44 remaining, but failed to add to the lead in the final two minutes.

The 'Cats' defense held Elon to just four points over the last five minutes, but the last three points proved to be the difference.

The first half featured eight ties. Ottaway tied the score early at 15-all and then a few minutes later, Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) buried a jumper in the lane to knot things up at 21-all.

Elon though closed the half on a 10-2 run in the last four minutes to take a 31-23 lead heading into the break. The Phoenix shot 51.7 percent in the half and finished shooting at a 48.1 percent clip.

Davidson takes a nine-day break for Christmas and will next return to the hardwood on Dec. 29 at John M. Belk Arena when it hosts Princeton for a 7 p.m. contest.

GAME NOTES: This is the latest Davidson has opened league play since the 2005-06 season when it opened SoCon action Dec. 19 at UNC Greensboro ... tonight's game was the second of only four games the Wildcats will play this month ... the Wildcats lead the all-time series 13-6, but have dropped the last two to the Phoenix ... Davidson is 3-2 in SoCon-openers the last five years.