BASKETBALL PREVIEW
AMIAH JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Elon University women’s
basketball team makes its
final preparations in Alumni
Gym before begining the
2017-2018 season.
NEW YEAR,
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 2016-17 RECORD
Elon looks to repeat as
Colonial Athletic Association
champ with six new players
Erik Wefab
Sports Director I @ErikWebbElon
Coming off a Colonial Ath
letic Association conference title
and an appearance in the NCAA
tournament, the Elon University
womens basketball program be
gins a new sea
son in Alumni
Gym.
Led by head
coach Charlotte
Smith in her
seventh season
with the team,
the Phoenix has
been practicing
to get into form
before the first
game. Accord
ing to Smith,
preparation has been going at a
slow pace.
“I’m comfortable with it be
cause we talked about trying to
acclimate the freshmen to our
system,” Smith said. “Just tak
ing it slow and moving at a pace
where they can get an under
standing and be really good at a
few things ... I feel like it’s going
really well and so I’m excited
about where we are right now.”
A new season means a new
look for the Phoenix. Elon wel
comes six freshmen this season.
They include guard Ariel Colon,
forward Emily Maupin, guard
Saadia Munford, guard Ariana
Nance, forward Anna Popovic
and forward Jaylin Powell. With
half the team being newcomers,
senior center and team captain
NEW
ADDITIONS
Elon’s
Women’s
basketball
team
welcomes
six freshman
this season,
making half
of the team
newcomers.
Malaya Johnson said she is ready
for this year.
“Six freshmen is really a
whole lot of new opportunities,”
Johnson said. “It’s a time to real
ly step up and lead by example;
but they work really hard and are
excited, so honestly, it’s just fresh
feet. They’re ready to go.”
“It’s a lot of teaching ... a lot
of breakdown,” Smith said. “Sim
plifying the package. You will
probably hear me say that quite a
bit. That’s something that we try
to do ... simplify things so that
they can master just a few things
and be really good at it.”
THE YEAR AHEAD
Elon opens play in an exhi
bition match against the Ander
son University Trojans Nov. 5.
The Phoenix will play two home
and two away matches before
Thanksgiving before playing a
slew of teams from North Caro
lina. They will also play against
Wake Forest University and
North Carolina State Univerisity,
at the beginning of the following
month.
For Smith, there is one game
that she is most excited for.
"The game opener ... I’m
ready to play,” Smith said. “I
think once we get into the sea
son, and just that first game, will
take the monkey off of everyone’s
back and you know, hopefully we
can relax and just flow into the
season and play Elon basketball.
I’m really excited because we
continue to play a great brand of
basketball. Exciting, up-tempo
... so I think it will be another
great year.”
The top scorer from last sea
son was senior Shay Burnett,
named the CAA Preseason Play
er of the Year. Burnett scored
OVERALL
HOME
AWAY
NEUTRAL
ALL GAMES
27-7
12-2
11-4
4-1
CONFERENCE
15-2
7-1
8-1
0-0
NON-CONFERENCE
12-5
5-1
3-3
4-1
419 points for the Phoenix, av
eraging 12.3 per game. She also
averaged 7.3 rebounds and 4.6
assists.
Elon returns six players from
last year including senior guard
Burnett, senior forward Meme
Garner, sophomore guard Jada
Graves, Johnson, sophomore
guard Lexi Mercer and soph
omore center Ra’Shika White.
Two of the top three Phoenix
scorers from last season, Lauren
Brown and Jenifer Rhodes, grad
uated in May. To continue suc
cess from last season. Smith says
the thing they have to do is take
it day-by-day.
“Just try to be the best we
can be on that given day,” Smith
said. “In my eyes, I feel like if
we develop them to be the best
they can be and we compete to
our highest potential, whether
that leads to a championship ...
I don’t know. To me that’s suc
cess and I feel like our coaching
staff is doing a really good job of
teaching our freshmen. So we’ll
just let the chips fall where they
may once the season starts.”
“Expectations are really just
come at the season with the same
mindset that we did last season,”
Johnson said.
Johnson also outlined some
of the goals that the team has for
the 2017-2018 season.
“As a team, just come at every
game with a sense of urgency.
We always talk about having fun
because when you’re not having
fun with it, then what are you re
ally doing?”
SMITH’S THOUGHTS
The Phoenix’s exhibition
game against Anderson Univer
sity marks the first game of the
final season inside Alumni Gym
before Elon moves its basketball
program to the new Schar Cen
ter, which is under construction.
“It’s going to be awesome,”
Smith said. “We’re going to play
the last game here that will ever
be played in Alumni, so I’m pro
jecting that by that point in the
season we’re sharp, we’re where
we want to be in terms of a team
and we’ll put on a good showing
to close out Alumni Gym.”
The head coach wants to
make sure that the team is held
to a high regard when it comes
to the final season.
“I’ll just talk about excellence
and trying to commit to doing
everything out here on the court
and off the court with excellence,”
she said. “Every year we shoot to
be championship teams. We’ve
done that for seven years in a row.
For six years we weren’t champi
ons and that’s our goal every year
... it never changes. So, I think in
order to be a champion, you’ve
got to talk about being a cham
pion. And I’ve talked about being
a champion since 2011, and I’ll
continue to talk about that.”
The quest to being that champi
onship starts with the game against
the Trojans on Nov. 5. Tip off for is
scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
2016-17 STATS
B93 PEOPLE
Average attendance per game
27
WINS
Most wins in Division i era and
second-most wins in a season in
school history
70.6
PPG
New school record in Division I era
2399 POINTS
New school record in Division I era