Hot shooting and costly turnovers powered the Elon Phoenix past Georgia Southern, 83-53, in a Southern Conference women's basketball game Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse.
    A crowd of 918 watched as    the final home stand of the regular season got off on the wrong foot after Aiesha Harper scored a career-high 21 points and helped Elon shoot 50 percent from the floor.
    The Phoenix also took advantage of 20 GSU turnovers and converted them into 23 points.
    A scoreless start to the second half put GSU (7-19, 3-14) in a hole it was unable to dig out of after trailing by 10 in the first half. The Lady Eagles, who extended their losing streak to seven games, connected on 17 of 51 field goals and drained three 3-pointers in 25 attempts.
    One bright spot for GSU was it shot nearly perfect from the free-throw line (12-for-13). Meredyth Frye led the team with 13 points, and MiMi DuBose added 11 points.
    Elon (13-13, 9-8) led, 38-28, at halftime but outscored GSU, 45-25, in the second half. The Phoenix shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first half and went to the free-throw line 13 times in the second half. Kelsey Evans joined Harper in double figures with 14 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
    DuBose made a pair of 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the contest, and GSU led, 6-3, before Elon outscored them 10-4 over the next three minutes.
     Elon opened the second half with 18 unanswered points and held GSU scoreless for nearly six minutes.
    GSU returns to Hanner Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. Monday against  UNCG.