Junior guard B.J. Banjo scored 18 points and senior forward Tiffani Mayes added 16 points and eight rebounds as East Tennessee State erased an 11-point, first-half deficit en route to an 80-58 Southern Conference women’s basketball triumph over Elon Friday night at Alumni Gym in Elon, N.C.
At the start, the Phoenix (0-5 overall, 0-2 SoCon) broke open a 4-4 tie with a 12-2 surge, exploding to a 16-6 advantage on a bucket by Kitara McMoore with 14:03 to play in the opening period.
The Lady Bucs (3-3, 1-0) responded with a 24-2 run to snag an 11-point lead of their own at 37-26 on a jumper by freshman guard Kelly Turman.
With 3:24 remaining in the stanza. East Tennessee State’s run began with 15 consecutive points – the first eight by Banjo – and was ended when Elon’s Brianne Gray sank a pair of free throws with 3:02 to play before the break.
“I am very proud of the complete effort of our team, since we had to go deep into our bench because of early foul trouble this evening,” said ETSU coach Karen Kemp following the win. “We kept our composure when we were down by 11 early, battling back to take an eight-point lead at halftime.”
Elon won the battle of the boards 40-34, but could not overcome 29 turnovers to just 14 for ETSU. The Lady Bucs fired 45 percent (30 of 67) from the field while holding the Phoenix to 38 percent (18 of 48).
In addition to Banjo and Mayes, ETSU also received a double-digit scoring performance from junior forward Candace Gibson with 12 points and eight rebounds.

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