ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Down eight points with less than nine minutes to play, Appalachian State University women's basketball rallied to take a one-point lead with 3:07 to go, but could not hang on as it was bounced by Elon, 59-56, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Tournament on Saturday at Kimmel Arena.

The No. 4 Mountaineers (13-16, 10-8 SoCon) had one final shot to tie the No. 5 Phoenix (15-15, 10-8), but a desperation three from Maryah Sydnor fell short as Elon advanced to Sunday's semifinals where it will face No. 1 Chattanooga.

Appalachian, which led for the vast majority of the first half, entered the locker room trailing 21-20 after Kelsey Harris scored with 22 seconds in the opening period to put the Phoenix up.

The Mountaineers regained the lead early in the second half (30-27) with 14:58 remaining when Elon mounted a 14-3 run over the next five and a half minutes to jump out to a 41-33 lead, its largest of the day.

The Phoenix run started when Harris connected on a layup with 14:44 on the clock and was capped off by Jessica Farmer's jumper at the 8:51 mark.

Despite the eight-point deficit, App State never gave up and slowly began chipping away at Elon's lead, cutting the deficit to one point (41-40) when Jessica Barrios connected on a pair of free throws with 7:44 to play to cap off a 7-0 run.

From there the two teams traded blows as the Mountaineers grabbed the lead (47-46) when KeKe Cooper hit a layup three minutes later. Elon responded with a bucket to go back ahead before Sydnor hit a pair of foul shots to give Appalachian its final lead of the day (49-48) with just over three minutes to go.

The Phoenix jumped back out in front on its next possession and, though Appalachian State was able to cut the deficit to one point twice in the final minute, hung on for its first-ever tournament win over the Mountaineers.

Sydnor scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds while finishing 9-of-10 from the charity stripe while Katie Mallow finished with 15 points and tied her career-high with seven assists. Cooper poured in 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Elon finished with three double-digit scorers as Harris and Lauren Brown each scored 14 and Farmer added 10 off the bench. Harris also hauled in nine rebounds and dished out three assists.

The Mountaineers were held to just 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the floor while the Phoenix shot 43.1 percent (25-of-58) and pulled down 45 rebounds compared to Appalachian's 30.

NOTES: Appalachian State fell to 30-25 all-time at the SoCon Tournament including a 5-9 mark in the quarterfinals... the loss marked the first time since 2008 that the Mountaineers dropped their tournament opener... freshman Mia Marshall came away with a career-high three blocks... Appalachian fell to 2-1 when facing Elon in the league tournament... Saturday's game marked the Mountaineers' final appearance as a member of the SoCon as it will move to the Sun Belt next season... App State dropped to 24-11 all-time against the Phoenix.