By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
It was a week of extremes for Elon teams in Coastal Athletic Association basketball.
The men’s team went from a low to a high, while the women’s team had the reverse occur.
The Elon men (16-11, 7-7 CAA) wrap up their home schedule Thursday night vs. first-place Towson (18-9, 13-1) and Saturday night vs. William & Mary, which entered this week tied for second place.
Men’s basketball
The Phoenix went from losing to a team that carried an 11-game overall losing streak to defeating a team that had won nine straight games.
North Carolina A&T claimed its first CAA victory with last Thursday night’s 60-59 stunner at Schar Center.
Then came Elon’s 81-70 upset of second-place UNC Wilmington on Saturday at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington.
Elon’s T.K. Simpkins scored a season-high 32 points, tying a team record with eight 3-point baskets (on 10 attempts). He was 11-for-15 overall from the field.
Senior forward Sam Sherry’s 10 points pushed him to 1,009 for his career, becoming the program’s 26th 1,000-point scorer. He needs three rebounds to reach 500 for his career.
Center Matthew Van Komen’s five blocked shots gave him a single-season Elon record of 66, two more than Lucas Troutman rejected in 2012-13.
UNCW (21-6, 11-3) lost at home to the Phoenix for the second year in a row.
Elon played both games last week without starting guard Nick Dorn, who’s out indefinitely with what has been listed as a “lower extremity injury.”
- Jahnathan Lamothe’s 3-pointer with 21.9 seconds left provided the final points as N.C. A&T avenged an eight-point home loss from early January. After that, Elon failed to score on its last two possessions.
The Aggies, who were winless in their first 12 CAA games and were without their top two scorers because of suspensions, outscored Elon 9-2 in the final three minutes.
The Phoenix had a 15-4 lead before struggles kicked in. T.J. Simpkins finished with 14 points.
Women’s basketball
The Phoenix women also had mixed results, with a road victory followed by Sunday afternoon’s 48-45 loss to visiting Campbell in a matchup of teams tied for third place.
A two-game winning streak ended for Elon (13-10, 7-5) despite Jayda Angel’s 20 points off the bench. The Phoenix matched its season-low point total.
“That’s the thing that can be frustrating at times because we can look like all-world,” Elon coach Charlotte Smith said, noting success two days earlier.
Elon didn’t score for the first 8½ minutes of the fourth quarter, falling into a 44-38 hole. Angel hit back-to-back midrange jumpers, but Gemma Nunez’s runner with the shot clock about to expire with 22.2 seconds left gave the Camels a boost.
Elon scored the final 12 points of the second quarter for a 26-21 halftime lead, with a pair of 3-pointers from Kamryn Doty accounting for half of those points. The Phoenix extended the run to 14-0 on Angel’s basket for the first points of the second half.
Campbell (15-9, 8-4) has won five straight despite shooting 1-for-13 on 3-pointers vs. Elon.
Sunday’s game was the annual Play4Kay event to honor cancer survivors.
“It’s a special day because Elon is the place where Kay Yow began her coaching journey,” Smith said of the Gibsonville native and eventual longtime North Carolina State coach.
- On Friday night at UNCW, the Phoenix posted its best shooting performance of the season at 50 percent in a 70-56 victory at Trask Coliseum.
Raven Preston supplied 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Laila Anderson had 11 points.
Elon is home against Delaware on Friday night and against Drexel on Sunday afternoon.
