Jill Furstenburg tallied 12 points and five assists and Nikki Williams recorded 11 rebounds and three steals, lifting the College of Charleston to a 44-40 Southern Conference women's basketball triumph over Elon Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
 
Via a 13-6 run, the Cougars (6-7 overall, 2-1 SoCon) transformed an 8-8 tie ? the fourth and final deadlock of the contest ? into a 21-14 halftime advantage, following a jumper by Tonia Gerty with 14 seconds remaining in the first period.
 
Charleston later stretched its lead to 26-17 on a free throw by Deidra Jones with 15:07 to go in the contest, but the Phoenix (6-8, 2-1) responded with a 9-2 spurt to pull within 28-26 on a three-pointer by Tiffany Davis with 11:45 left.
 
The Cougars scored eight of the game's next nine points to extend their edge to 36-27 on a basket by Furstenburg with 7:41 to play. Elon used a 13-6 surge to draw within 42-40 on a bucket by Jess Luedtke with 23 seconds remaining, but could inch no closer as Ashley Scott canned a free throw with 20 ticks left and another one with nine seconds to go.
 
The Phoenix received a contest-best 13 points and three steals from Davis, 11 boards from Amber Wall and 10 caroms from Kitara McMoore. Shashonna Moore, making her first start of the season and 30th of her career, posted eight points and seven rebounds for Elon.
 
“We struggled to score in the first half,” Phoenix coach Brenda Paul said. “We played great defense in the first half, but we missed some shots and made some careless turnovers that hurt us. We corrected that at halftime and only had six turnovers in the second half, so I was pleased with that.”
 
Charleston held Elon to a season-low 14 points in the opening stanza. The Phoenix's previous season low for a half was 15 points in the second period of a 53-46 loss to North Carolina A&T on Nov. 19.
 
The Cougars earned edges in rebounds (42-39), turnovers (15-23), points off turnovers (12-9), second chance points (7-2) and bench points (9-6). Elon outscored Charleston 16-6 in the paint.
 
The Phoenix fired 33.3 percent (16 of 48) from the field and 42.9 percent (6 of 14) from the free throw line while the Cougars shot 31.6 percent (18 of 57) from the floor and 43.8 percent (7 of 16) from the stripe.
 
Elon hosts Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. Monday while Charleston visits UNC Greensboro at 3 p.m. Monday.