Kelsey Evans Blog - 'Tis The Season!

Written by Elon Phoenix on 11:35 AM

Happy Holidays basketball fans!

I hope everyone is getting in the holiday spirit and enjoying the chilly weather. Today marks the first day of our oh-so-generous five-day Christmas break! (Last year we only had 3). We were able to head home on a positive note after a thrilling victory over a talented Davidson team. When I say thrilling I mean up by one with 18 seconds left and they have the ball. Fortunately for us, they missed their final attempt and we went on to win our first conference game. Huge shout out to my teammate Shon Redmond for the biggest play I've seen since being at Elon. Let me set the scene for you. Down by two with less than 30 seconds to play. Shon attacks the basket, steps through two defenders and finishes the basket. But the best part? The whistle blows! AND ONE! Shon was able to finish the three-point play and put us up one point. We then had to play solid defense for 18 seconds to seal it, and we did. Merry Christmas to us! We could not have asked for a better Christmas present. I'm so proud of the way our team fought the entire game. There was a refuse to lose attitude that could be seen in every players demeanor. We're lucky to be able to play in such a competitive and talented conference.   I hope you all enjoyed that story as much as I did writing it, but outside of basketball we've had a great week.

Saturday afternoon we had our Christmas party at Coach Barefoot's house. This time of year is truly about family and friends, and we had a houseful of both! The climax of our holiday party was probably when we did the secret Santa. I'm sure you all know how secret Santa works, but if you don't, what we did was pick a name out of a hat and whomever you picked you would be a secret Santa to.

There were some funny gifts, but I must say I had the best Santa of all, freshman Candice Silas. For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE zebra print. My book bag, bed comforter, umbrella, rain boots, various articles of clothing are all zebra print. Well Candice being the genius she is, got me a zebra snuggie! I was instantly mesmerized.


Don't be surprised if you see me around town in that thing. I'm not kidding. We also presented our coaches with a book about the Butler men’s basketball team titled "Underdawgs". We saw a lot of the same qualities in our team and their team and thought it would make for a good Christmas present for all of their hard work.   Anyways, our party was obviously a success and everyone LOVED their gifts. So now we're all home to spend time with family for Christmas but we'll be back in action on Dec. 30 to take on Marshall in Huntington, W. Va. I also wanted to wish Coach Stockdale a happy birthday!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and we look forward to seeing everyone next year when we take on Georgia Southern at home on Jan. 3.

Happy holidays and New Year! May your days be merry and bright!


- Kelsey