Lady Eagles Drop a Last-Second Stunner at Elon
1/14/2012 3:35:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ELON, N.C. - With the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles leading by one, Aiesha Harper drove nearly the length of the court in final seconds for the Elon Phoenix and drained a layup to secure the 61-60 win. Meredyth Frye (Fredricksburg, Va.) gave GSU the one point advantage on a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining. A desperation three-pointer attempt from Janay Wilson (Warner Robins, Ga.) with time draining away could not undo the damage.
"It was just a mental breakdown," said Head Coach Rusty Cram about the final Elon basket. "We were supposed to keep everybody in front of us and not let anybody get behind us."
Frye along with MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) led Georgia Southern (5-11, 1-6), who went 19-for-25 from the charity stripe, with 14 points. The junior guard accounted for most of that free throw shooting and missed only one shot in 11 attempts. DuBose tallied three of the team's five treys, her most since draining four against Furman on December 5th, and added two field goals.
"That's the thing with Meredyth, people are going to continue to double team her, they are going to take away the things that they know she is confident in," said Cram about Meredyth's performance at the charity stripe. "We tried to get her in some situations that we felt like she could get to the free throw line and that's what the great players do."
Ali Ford led Elon (7-9, 3-4) with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from behind the arc. Kelsey Harris added 12 points and tied with Sam Coffer for the team lead with seven rebounds. The Phoenix, who shot over 40% in the first half, were held to 33% in the second half on eight-for-24 shooting.
Shannen Cochraham led all scorers in the first half with eight points and helped Elon to a 12-8 advantage in the paint. Cochraham played 10 minutes off the bench for the Phoenix, who tallied nine second chance points off of 23 rebounds in the period. Briana Scott (Dumfries, Va.) led Georgia Southern with seven points, she finished the night with nine points. Frye pulled down four rebounds and tallied four points, while DuBose added five points to the Lady Eagles' first half tally.
Trailing by five points at the start, Georgia Southern rattled off nine-straight points to lead 9-5 with just under 15 minutes to play. A Ford trey and a layup from Cochraham put the Phoenix back in the lead 12-10. With the game tied at 19-19, Elon opened a 29-23 lead with less than four minutes to play on a trey from Harper and finished the half with an 8-7 run to lead 37-30.
Georgia Southern pulled within three early in the second half with six unanswered points, including a Wilson steal that was converted on the other end by DuBose. Frye hit a pair of free throws and Jordi Cook (Tunnell Hill, Ga.) sank a three with 8:53 to play to give GSU its first lead, 50-46, since early in the first half. However, Elon retook a four point lead before three-straight free throws by Frye and DuBose put Georgia Southern back on top by one.
The Lady Eagles return to action Sunday at UNC Greensboro. Tip-off from the Fleming Gym is set for 2 p.m.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.
