‘Cats Snap Semifinal Jinx, Murray and Aleksandraivius Lead Them to SoCon Finals With 71-61 Win

Sunday, March 10

Asheville, N.C.

2:30 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

18-13

No. 3 Elon (ESPN3)

21-11

Team	1	2	F
Elon	29	32	61
Davidson	38	33	71

Laura Murray registered her 16th career 20-point outing in the win.

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

‘Cats Snap Semifinal Jinx, Murray and Aleksandraivius Lead Them to SoCon Finals With 71-61 Win

3/10/2013 5:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Postgame Interview
Postgame Quotes
Photo Gallery from SoCon Championships
DavidsonPhotos.com

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Laura Murray (season-high 25) and Sophia Aleksandravicius (21) combined for 46 and Davidson reached the Southern Conference Women's Basketball finals for the second time in with a 71-61 victory over Elon Sunday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Center.

The Wildcats, winners of 17 of their past 21 games, will take on top-seeded Chattanooga in tomorrow's championship at 3 p.m. on ESPN3. UTC took both meetings this year vs. the 'Cats, 60-56 and 68-59.

Davidson snapped a five-game skid in semifinal contests, reaching the finals for the second time since the 1998-99 campaign and just the second time in program history.

Murray drilled four of the Wildcats' five 3-pointers to go along with eight rebounds. In addition to grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds for her 48th career double-double and 18th of the season, Aleksandravicius finished 7-of-14 from the floor, 7-of-8 from the line and recorded five blocks.

Davidson (21-11) held a commanding 47-34 advantage on the glass, while making 82.4 percent (14-17) of its attempts from the line.

Barbara Sitton filled the stats-sheet with six points, six assists and five rebounds.

Elon (18-13) put three in double digits, led by Kelsey Evans' 16 points. Shannen Cochraham added 14 and Ali Ford chipped in 10.

A Murray jumper with 13:55 remaining gave Davidson its largest lead of the contest, 48-31. The Phoenix slowly though cut the deficit to four, 56-52, with just over five minutes to play on a Ford jumper from the baseline.

Murray came up clutch on the next Wildcat possession, converting a three-point play to ignite a 7-2 spurt. The Wildcats then put the game out of reach and seal the win by going 10-for-12, including 4-of-4 by Aleksandravicius, at the charity stripe in the final 1:10.

Murray sparked the Wildcats to a nine-point lead at the break with 16 points. For the second day in a row, Davidson raced out to a big lead, jumping on Elon for a 17-4 advantage after a Dakota Dukes' fastbreak layup. Murray hit back-to-back triples prior to that.

Another trey, this time from Hannah Early, maintained the lead at 26-15 and Murray's fourth shot from downtown made it 34-23 with 4:42 left in the half. Elon closed to within four, before Murray capped of her solid half with a driving layup as time was expiring for the 38-29 Wildcat lead.

GAME NOTES: It's the first time since Jan. 4, 2012 vs. Elon a pair of Wildcats each scored 20 points in a game … Aleksandravicius has 10 double-doubles in the last 14 games … Davidson has won eight of the past 11 meetings vs. Elon and owns an 18-7 lead in the series … the Wildcats are 2-7 in semifinals games … the 'Cats improved 14-19 all-time at the league tournament … for first time in school history, Davidson has back-to-back 20-win campaigns.