By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The noise and support were nice for Elon’s women’s basketball team. A lead for most of the Education Day game Wednesday at Schar Center seemed encouraging.
But visiting Furman hit a hot streak in the fourth quarter and overcame the Phoenix, winning 61-57 in the non-conference game in front of nearly 2,500 screaming elementary school students from around Alamance County.
Elon dropped to 4-3, so for now it was unable to exceed last year’s victory total in non-conference games. Last year, Elon won only four non-conference games.
Raven Preston and Hannah Dereje both scored 12 points and Laila Anderson, formerly of Eastern Alamance and The Burlington School, posted 11 points for the Phoenix. For Dereje, a junior, it was a career-high point total.
Elon was up 29-20 at halftime and by 11 early in the third quarter. The Paladins threatened several times, but the Phoenix was boosted by baskets in transition. Furman went ahead 45-44 with 7:40 left before a back-and-forth stretch.
Furman nailed second-chance 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to turn a 52-49 hole into a 55-52 lead with 2½ minutes remaining. Then another 3-pointer by Tate Walters gave the Paladins a multi-possession margin.
Jada Angel’s 3-pointer for Elon with 4.5 seconds left cut the gap to 60-57. Then Sydney Ryan was good on the second of two free-throw attempts amid the crowd’s screeching to seal it.
Elon shot 12-for-12 on free throws, but only made only 33.3 percent (including 3-for-13 on 3s) from the field.
Kate Johnson’s 17 points and Walters’ 13 led Furman (7-3), which survived despite 21 turnovers.
Last week, Raven Preston pumped in 19 points as Elon posted a 74-67 victory against host Longwood at Farmville, Virginia.
Next, the Phoenix visits East Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
