BOONE, N.C.- Winners of five-straight games, Appalachian State University women's basketball looks to carry its strong play and momentum into yet another pivotal Southern Conference contest Saturday as the Apps battle Elon in Alumni Gym. The contest is set to begin at 2 p.m. and marks the second meeting of the season between the two teams.

About the Apps: The Mountaineers, winners of five-straight games, are coming off a five-point victory over Southern Conference foe Furman in the Paladins’ Timmons Arena. The win marked ASU’s first over FU this season, evening the season series at 1-1.

After falling behind by four points with under three minutes to play, Sam Ramirez drained a three-pointer and Kelsey Sharkey stole the ball from Furman in its backcourt and hit the ensuing layup to put Appalachian up for good in the waning minutes of the contest and give ASU a 58-53 win.

Ramirez was productive on the offensive front once again, pouring in a game-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Anna Freeman and Ashlen Dewart also finished the game in double-figures.

The win not only gave the Black and Gold its eighth SoCon victory of the season, surpassing the total number of conference wins from a season ago, but it also kept the Apps a spotless 6-0 on the road against conference opponents.

Overall, Dewart leads ASU in scoring, averaging 14.8 points per game, while Ramirez and Anna Freeman average double-figures as well, chipping in 11.8 and 10.2 points per contest.

On the glass, Anna Freeman hauls in a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game.

Pin-Pointing the Phoenix: Elon is 9-14 overall on the season and hold a 4-10 conference record. The Phoenix are coming off a thrilling one-point victory over Samford, beating the Bulldogs 60-59. Previous to that game, Elon dropped an 84-63 decision to conference-leader Chattanooga. Elon has a 5-6 record on its home floor.

Offensively, it has been all freshman Ali Ford. Ford leads Elon in scoring, averaging 16.0 points per game, and is the only Phoenix scoring in double-figures. A threat behind the arc as well, Ford shoots 32 percent from three-point land and 35 percent from the field.

Urysla Cotton has been strong on the offensive front as well, chipping in 8.5 points per game. On the boards, Cotton grabs a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game and Kelsey Evans grabs an average of 6.8 per game. Elon is third in the conference in scoring offense and is second in the league in three point field percentage defense.

The Series: Appalachian State and Elon have met just a total of 24 times, with ASU leading the series 16-8. In the last meeting between the two teams, back on January 2, ASU got the New Year off to a strong start, rallying a second-half comeback to down Elon 85-66 in the Holmes Center. A 18-0 second half run by the Apps, coupled with a new school record 17 blocks, pushed ASU to the thrilling win.

The two teams split the series during the 2008-09 season, with each winning on the others home court. The Apps grabbed their first SoCon win of the season last year in Elon’s Alumni Gym, as Charmene Means led the Mountaineers to a 63-59 win.

In the past two seasons (2007-08 and 2008-09) Elon has earned wins over Appalachian, both on the Mountaineers’ home court. Before that, ASU had defeated Elon eight consecutive times, with two of the victories coming in OT. The eight wins for ASU is its longest winning streak in the series, while Elon’s longest streak is two games.

The two squad’s first played one another back during the 1970-71 campaign, and squared off in eight games before taking a 17 year hiatus, not facing each other again until the 2003-04 season. 11 of Appalachian’s 16 wins in the series have been decided by double-digits while three of Elon’s wins over the Apps have been decided by the double-digit margin.

ASU has not swept Elon since the 2006-07 season, winning both games during the regular season, including capturing a 63-61 win on Elon’s home court and defeating the Phoenix for the third time that season in the first round of the SoCon tournament.

Live Stats, Audio and Video: To view live stats of Saturday's game click here. To listen to the call of the game from the Appalachian ISP Sports Network click here. To watch a live webstream of the game click here.

Up Next: ASU returns to the High Country for the first time in over two weeks, as the Mountaineers welcome Western Carolina to the Holmes Center, Monday February 8. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m.