ELON, N.C. -- Ali Ford scored 21 points and paced a strong second half shooting performance by Elon  en route to a 79-69 win over Furman in Southern Conference women's basketball action Friday evening at Alumni Gym.

Ford, a senior guard, paced a contingent of five double figure scorers for the Phoenix (9-7, 6-1 SoCon),  which claimed their fifth consecutive win.  Kelsey Evans, Kelsey Harris, and Candice Silas followed with 11 points apiece, and Sam Coffer finished with 10.

Teshia Griswold topped Furman (6-10, 2-5 SoCon) with 18 points, and Kaitlin Murphy registered 15 points along with six assists and two steals.  Erica Norwood registered 11 points.

Elon, which connected on 29-of-60 shots in the contest (48.3 percent), blistered the nets at a 58.8 percent clip (20-for-34) in the second half to break open a 26-26 halftime deadlock.

The Phoenix's strong shooting and 20 Furman turnovers helped nullify a 47-29 Paladin rebounding advantage.

Furman trailed 37-34 five and a half minutes into the second half when Elon fashioned a 13-3 run over the next four minutes to grab a 50-37 advantage following a three-point play by Silas at the 10:47 mark.

A Murphy 3-pointer cut the lead to 50-40, but the Phoenix responded with another big run, this time an 18-6 spurt, to take control.  A pair of Coffer free throws with 6:09 left gave Elon a 68-46 lead.

Furman used a 16-4 run to narrow the lead to 72-62 on a Murphy jumper with 2:31 showing on the clock, and trimmed the Elon advantage to single digits on three occasions over the final 1:03 but get no closer.

Furman will return home for clashes with Western Carolina (Jan. 23) at 7:00 p.m. and Wofford (Jan. 26), which is a 2:00 p.m. tip.