Lady Phoenix look to climb, men's
team at the top rung
Mike Deye and James Schlucter /
Reporters
Women's
The Phoenix got off to a slow start in Southern Conference
play by losing three of their first four games against
divisional foes. However, with back-to-back wins against
Wofford and the College of Charleston, the Phoenix are
proving themselves in a conference with much parity.
Last year, the Phoenix struggled as they stumbled to a
second to last place finish in the Southern Conference. The
Phoenix are off to a 3-3 start in the conference. Already
matching last year's win total in the conference, they
are hoping to recover from last season's woes.
Red-shirt sophomore forward Kitara McMoore has been a major
part of the team's success throughout the first five
conference games, leading the team with 17.6 points and 11
rebounds per game. Perhaps more impressively, McMoore is
second on the team in assists in conference play, trailing
only point-guard Tierra Bumbrey.
"(McMoore) is our go to player," coach Brenda Paul
said.
McMoore understands that the team feeds off of her success
in the post. Her ability to score, rebound and pass makes her
a unique all-around threat from the paint.
This season is a change from last year. The next three
conference games will certainly test the Phoenix as they look
to improve on their 3-3 conference record.
"(This year) we're in the games and we have chances
to win," Paul said.
The Phoenix will host Furman and UNC-Greensboro, then travel
to Chattanooga for one of their toughest match ups of the
year. Furman is among the top teams in the SoCon, ranked
second in the standings. Chattanooga has won every regular
season SoCon championship this decade. UNC-G is traditionally
a hard fought rivalry game; however, that game should be the
least challenging game of the upcoming conference schedule.
Men's
After starting the season out 2-9 in their first 11 games,
it looked like the Elon men's basketball team might be
headed for a year similar to their 8-23 campaign in
2004-2005. During their nine losses, Elon was outscored by an
average of 16.8 points per game.
Since then, Coach Ernie Nestor has turned things around for
his basketball team, who currently sits atop the Southern
Conference in sole possession of first place with a 4-0
record.
It all started when Elon got an impressive out of conference
win at Clemson, 74-69, on Dec. 30. In that game, Elon had
five players notch double digits in scoring and held Clemson
to just 35 percent shooting from the field.
"We aren't the type of team that can come out and
impose our will on people," Nestor said. "We have
certain things we do and we have to do those things to be
good."
Elon needed their big win against an ACC team to provide
momentum as they headed into their first chunk of the
Southern Conference schedule. With the help of two juniors,
Montell Watson and Chris Chalko, Elon won their first four
conference games by an average of eight points or more.
Watson, who only averaged 4.6 points and less than two
assists per game last year, has poured in 53 points and
dished out 16 assists in conference play. Chalko leads the
team in scoring and has netted 62 points and pulled down 21
rebounds in his four conference games.
The Phoenix will play ten straight conference games to
finish out the season before the Southern Conference
Tournament in March.
The players are happy to get off to such a strong start in
conference play. In their next four games, they play one
undefeated team and three teams all with a record of 3-1.
"It's such a good thing to start 4-0," Watson
said. "There are so many good teams in our conference
and every night is a big game."
Contact Mike Deye and James Schlucter at
pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
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Laura
Hals / Photographer