For Immediate Release
December 9, 2004

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood University earned a 63-59 decision over visiting High Point University in a college women’s basketball contest played at Willett Hall in Farmville Thursday night. The Lancers (4-4) were led by senior center Catherine Dunn/Aberdeen, N.J. (St. John Vianney) who scored a career-and-game-high 19 points and added five rebounds and three assists. The Panthers (2-4) were led by Katie O’Dell and Charlena Martin who both chipped in 17 points. Longwood will be back in action Thursday, December 21 when they face off against George Mason in Fairfax. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.

The Lancers held the early 11-8 lead at 13:31 after junior guard Jessica Wilkerson/Roanoke (Northside) drained a three-pointer. The Panthers answered with a 6-0 run to take a three-point lead on buckets by Amber Manuel, Chan Ingram and two made free throws by Katie Ralls. Longwood regained the lead and held off High Point for the rest of the first half. The Lancers went up by as many as six and went into intermission with the slight 31-28 lead.

The Panthers scored the the first five points of the second half to take the lead at 33-31 with 16:16 remaining in the contest. A three-pointer by junior forward Amber Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) gave the Lancers back a slight one-point lead, but two straight layups by High Point put the lead back into the Panthers hands.

Longwood and High Point flip-flopped the lead multiple times over the next few minutes, but neither team could pull ahead by more than two points. With the Panthers up by one 55-54 with 5:24 remaining on the clock, both Dunn and senior forward Marita Meldere/Rujiena, Latvia (Lynchburg Christian) made layups to give the Lancers its largest lead of the second half at 58-55.

A layup by HPU’s Emily Mills with 33 seconds left in the game cut the lead to one, but two made free throws by junior forward Ashley Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) pushed LU’s lead back to three. High Point would not go away, again cutting the Lancers lead to one, 60-59, with 16 ticks left on the game clock, but three out of four free throws by Longwood over the last 10 second sealed the four-point victory over High Point.

Besides Dunn, who hit 7-13 from the field, including 3-5 three-pointers, for her career-high night of 19 points, the Lancers were led by Amber Mason who chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds, one assist, two blocks and three steals. Both Ashley Mason and freshman guard Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) added nine points, while Meldere grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. LU shot 39.1% (25-64) from the field, including 43.8% (7-16) on three-pointers, and 46.2% (6-13) at the charity stripe.

The Panthers O’Dell also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with her 17 points, while Candyce Sellars finished with 11 points. High Point shot 35.4% (23-65) from the field, including 35.3% (6-17) on three pointers, and was 77.8% (7-9) from the line.