Brown’s Free Throws Lift Elon WBB to 60-58 Win at William & Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Lauren Brown became the 21st member of the 1,000-point club with her third-quarter three-pointer and knocked down game-winning free throws with 1.4 seconds to go in guiding Elon University women’s basketball to a 60-58 victory over William & Mary on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 22, inside Kaplan Arena.

BOX SCORE

Three players – Brown, Malaya Johnson and Shay Burnett – led the Phoenix with 10 points apiece. All nine players to get in the game Sunday scored with Essence Baucom scoring nine and Jenifer Rhodes adding eight.

William & Mary was led by Abby Rendle’s 13 points and eight rebounds. Bianca Boggs and Victoria Reynolds both chipped in 10 points and Alexandra Masaquel added nine points and eight rebounds.

The Rundown
The two teams traded buckets in the opening minutes before William & Mary went on a 7-0 run to go up 14-7 with 4:34 left in the first. The Phoenix answered with a quick 4-0 run to cut the lead back to three at 14-11, but William & Mary responded and held a 19-13 lead after one quarter. Rhodes led Elon through the quarter in scoring all eight of her points in the frame.

Elon dominated the second quarter in opening on a 14-4 run, which included a 10-0 stretch after the opening minutes. The run was fueled by two Johnson layups and three-pointers from Burnett and Maddie McCallie. In all, Elon outscored the Tribe 22-10 throughout the second quarter and took a six-point lead to halftime at 35-29.

Brown started the third quarter with her milestone three-pointer and after a Tribe free throw, Johnson hit a layup to extend Elon’s lead to 10 at 40-30, its largest of the afternoon. Leading 46-45 early in the fourth, William & Mary had a chance to take its first lead since the early stages of the second quarter but Brown took a charge to force a turnover. On the ensuing possession, Brown hit a three-pointer in front of the Elon bench with 7:13 to play that marked a huge swing for the Phoenix.

Down the stretch, the Tribe again made a run at the lead and tied it up at 58 with 25.1 seconds to play. Burnett held Elon’s possession at the top of the key waiting for the last shot and drove the bucket but her attempt was off. Brown collected the rebound and was fouled on the way back up to go to the line. After hitting both free throws, William & Mary called timeout to advance the ball and draw up a play but Brown deflected the inbounds pass and time ran out.

Notes
– Brown is the first player to reach 1,000-career points since Kelsey Harris accomplished the milestone on Feb. 22, 2014, against Wofford.
– After committing seven turnovers in the third quarter and 16 over the course of the first three quarters, Elon committed just one in the fourth quarter to clinch the win.
– After going eight games in a row without an opponent shooting better than 40 percent in a game, William & Mary became the third team in a row to shoot better than 40 percent.
– Sunday’s game didn’t see an Elon player record double-digit rebounds. It’s the first time since Jan. 2 an Elon player did not record at least 10 rebounds.

Up Next
Elon continues its three-game road swing with a trip to New England to take on Northeastern on Friday, Jan. 27, before closing the trip with a 1 p.m. matchup in New York against Hofstra on Sunday, Jan. 29, on Long Island.