Jan. 19, 2004

Final Stats

Elon, N.C. - Courtney Nyborg turned in a pair of game highs with 16 points and three blocked shots while leading Elon to a 58-45 Southern Conference women's basketball victory over Western Carolina Monday night at Alumni Gym.

In the early going, the Catamounts (4-12 overall, 3-6 Southern Conference) reeled off six consecutive points to turn a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 edge on a jumper by Yoneko Allen with 16:17 left to play in the opening stanza. The Phoenix (9-7, 5-4) used a 13-2 run to claim a 16-10 advantage on a Jessica Williams three-pointer with 12:03 remaining before the break.

Western Carolina battled back to take a 26-22 lead on a 16-6 surge, capped by a Ki-Ki Glass lay-up with 3:50 left before halftime. Elon responded with a 17-5 run to recapture the advantage once and for all at 39-31 on a jumper by Brianne Gray with 16:12 to play in the contest.

Via a 9-4 spurt, the Catamounts closed the gap to 43-40 on a three-point bomb by Allen with 9:13 left on the clock. Elon reeled off seven more markers to extend its edge to double digits at 50-40 on a jumper by Alexandra Schafranek at the 6:16 mark. The Catamounts never moved closer than eight points the rest of the night.

Nyborg connected on six of her nine shots from the floor and on all four of her free throws while teammates Williams (13 points) and Lisa Miller (11 points, four assists, four steals) also broke into double digits in the scoring column. Lori Tanner led Western Carolina with 14 points.

WCU's Tiffany Hamm hauled in a game-best nine boards to crack into the program's top 10 all-time rebounding list with 614 career caroms. Hamm, who entered the contest ranked fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.3 points per game, was held to just four markers on 2-for-13 shooting from the field.

Phoenix guard Holly Andrews - the Southern Conference's leading scorer at 19.9 points per game - sat out the contest due to a knee injury, but is expected to return in the near future. Even without her, the Phoenix finished 9-for-9 from the free throw line and out-shot the Catamounts 45.8 percent (22-for-48) to 35.7 percent (20-for-56) from the floor.

In the second half, Elon hit 50 percent of its shots from the field (11-for-22) while Western Carolina connected on only 24 percent of its attempts (6-for-25). The Phoenix also finished with edges in rebounds (35-30), assists (14-10), blocked shots (4-0), steals (12-7) and second chance points (11-4).

Western Carolina bested Elon in turnovers (14-19), points in the paint (28-20), points off turnovers (19-8) and bench points (20-12). Altogether, there were four ties and five lead changes in the contest.

The Catamounts end their three-game road swing by heading to Georgia Southern Saturday, Jan. 24, for a 5:00 pm tip-off with the Lady Eagles.