Mount Olive College played a close battle in the first half but a late second half surge ended up being too much for the Trojans as they dropped an 84-68 loss inside Alumni Gym Sunday afternoon.
Joneiqua Gary, Jasmine McDonald, and Katie Paschal all had double figure nights for Mount Olive.
Kirksten Mitchell gave Mount Olive the lead with 16:59 in the first period and they did not relinquish the lead for over ten minutes. The lead grew as high as eight for the visiting Trojans.
The tough defense played by Mount Olive only let the lead get down to one but never let the Phoenix take over until, Lauren Brown made both of her free throws with 6:22 remaining tying the game at 25.
Elon did push its way back into the lead for the rest of the period on a jumper by Autumn Carter, at 4:39, which gave the Phoenix a 29-27 advantage.
The lead climbed to eight, however McDonald shrunk the lead to six with a pair of made free throws just before the first period ended. Elon controlled the second half of the first period and went into the break, up 40-34.
The second half would be all Elon as they built on the lead from the half.
Mount Olive (6-3) did make the middle part of the second half interesting as Ty Wallace made a tough layup in the paint. With 9:10 left in the game the Trojans only trailed five as Elon (5-6) held on to a 59-54 lead.
After a fast-paced layup by Kelsey Harris put the Phoenix back up by seven it was Gary's long three-pointer at 8:39 that brought Mount Olive as close as it could get; before Elon began to pull away for the final time.
Carter's Jumper with 7:00 remaining in the game started a 16-8 run for Elon that sealed the victory.
For Mount Olive, Gary finished with 19 points. McDonald had 22 points. Paschal had 12 points as well.
Elon University had four players finish in double figures: Carter (25), Kelsey Harris (22), Zora Stephenson (12), and Lenaira Ruffin (10).
This game did not count against Mount Olive as it was an exhibition game. The Trojans will remain idle until they host Conference Carolinas opponent Converse in Kornegay Arena January 2 tip-off is 5:30pm.