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Elon Holds Off Furman 56-50
Jan. 23, 2007
Elon, N.C. - Rachel Hester scored 14 points, and Tierra Brumbey added 13 as Elon held off a second half rally to defeat Furman 56-50 on Monday night at Alumni Gym.
Furman, which trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half, shot 41.7 percent after halftime and forced 12 second half turnovers, but the Phoenix connected on 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
Hester, who entered the game shooting 20 percent from beyond the arc, drained four of her eight three-point attempts, including three straight to end the first half.
Kali Holtfreter and Katie Agin each set career-highs with 13 points. Agin also tied a career-high with a team-high six rebounds. Chrissy Phelps set a new career mark with nine assists.
Trailing 40-24 with 15 minutes left in the game, Furman quickly cut the lead to six with three straight layups and a Melissa Liebschwager trey with just under 12 minutes remaining. The Lady Paladins had an opportunity to cut into the lead even more, but a turnover followed by an Elon three-pointer and a Phoenix offensive rebound followed by another trey quickly pushed the lead back to 12 points. Furman got as close as eight points on three more occasions before a Liebschwager three-pointer at the buzzer trimmed the lead to six points.
Elon raced out to a 10-0 lead and extended its lead to 20-4 with 11 minutes to play in the opening frame. Furman responded with a 16-4 run of its own to pull to within four points at 24-20 with three minutes left. Hester then hit three straight three-pointers, the second and third coming after offensive rebounds, to end the half.
Furman held a commanding 36-16 lead in bench points, but the Phoenix converted 26 points off Lady Paladin turnovers and held a 39-36 advantage on the boards, including 18 offensive rebounds.
With the win, Elon improves to 8-11 on the season, 3-6 in the Southern Conference. Furman falls to 6-14 overall, 1-8 in conference play. The Lady Paladins return to action on Saturday as Furman plays host to Georgia Southern at 3:00 p.m. at Timmons Arena.
