Box Score
ELON, N.C.--Junior Carrie Biemer scored with five seconds left in a tie game to give the Quakers their first win of the season, defeating Elon 56-54 Friday night. Biemer had a career-high 28 points and Penn improved to 1-0 on the season. Elon fell to 0-1 in the season-opener.
Penn led through the majority of the game, but Elon mounted a comeback and tied the game with two big free throws from Kitara McMoore with just 17 seconds left to play. Elon pressed hard on the inbounds, but Penn was able to move the ball up the floor. With five seconds left on the clock, Maggie Burgess found Biemer open for a turnaround jumper and the lead. Elon's Hail Mary from half court was no good and the win was Penn's.
Biemer averaged a point per minute in the game and shot 10-of-22. She was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, tying her career high. She was named the MVP of the game and also boasted six rebounds, one steal and just two turnovers.
Leading the Quakers on the boards was Burgess with eight. As a team, Penn out-rebounded the Phoenix 41-27.
Penn was fast out of the gates and took an early lead, though the Phoenix stayed close and grabbed the lead at the midway point of the first half. They were able to stretch their lead to five points before Penn clamped down on defense.
Elon's Julie Taylor scored on a jumper at 10:26, but in the ensuing eight minutes, Penn tacked on 19 unanswered points. Elon snuck in four points in the last two minutes, but still trailed by 12 at the half.
Statistically, the second half was almost a mirror image of the first, but with the teams reversed. Where Penn scored 33 points on 13-of-27 shooting in the first, Elon had the same off 13-of-29 in the second. Elon's first half line was 21 points on 8-of-26, but the difference for Penn was its 23 points going 8-for-22.
Two freshmen saw game time, Kim Adams was the first off the bench early inthe first. Erin Power clocked 11 minutes and registered one assist in her debut.
The win gives Head Coach Patrick Knapp's a perfect 4-0 mark in season openers at Penn, though three of those four have been decided in dramatic fashion. In 2005-06 Penn won a three-point overtime game and last season, then-sophomore Burgess banked a shot with 15 seconds left to gain a one-point edge.
Penn will wrap up the road trip with a game vs. William & Mary at 5 p.m. The Tribe dispatched Campbell, 71-53 in the first game of the ISES Cancer Awareness Tournament. Senior Devin James was named the MVP of that game and scored her 1,000th career point vs. the Camels.
