December 7, 2005
BOX SCOREHARRISONBURG, Va. – Longwood University dropped a 76-60 women’s basketball decision to James Madison University this evening at the JMU Convocation Center in Harrisonburg. The loss drops the Lancers overall record to 2-6, while the Dukes improved their record to 5-1 and have now won four-straight games. Longwood was led by the senior tandem of Ashley and Amber Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne), who scored 17 and 16 points, respectively. Longwood will be back in action Saturday, December 10 when they play at High Point University. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.
The Dukes took an early 6-3 lead at the 17:38 mark after Tamara Young hit her second-straight jumper. A free throw shot by Ashley Mason and a bucket by sophomore guard Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) knotted the game at 6-6, but a 10-6 run by James Madison over the next five minutes gave the host Dukes a four-point edge at 16-12.
Amber Mason hit a jumper and Ashley Mason again hit one-of-two free throws to cut JMU’s lead to one with 12:30 to play in the first half.
Longwood went cold and was unable to score another point over the next five minutes. James Madison capitalized scoring 10-straight points to gain an 11-point advantage at 26-15. The Dukes kept their lead over ten points until the Lancers went on a 6-0 run over the final three minutes of the first stanza to slice the host’s halftime lead to five, 34-29. Amber Mason, freshman forward Amber Sims/Lawrenceville (Brunswick Senior) and freshman center Claire Blevins/Chantilly (Chantilly) accounted for the final points for LU.
The Dukes came out strong in the second half quickly building a 16-point lead four minutes in the second half off a 12-4 run which included three three-pointers; two of which were scored by Lesley Dickinson and the other by Young.
The Lancers were able to cut the lead to six, 51-45, on the strong play of Ashley Mason and freshman forward Cassandra Smith/Fredericksburg (Massaponax). Ashley Mason scored eight-straight points for Longwood, while Smith hit a jumper and drained a three-pointer to put Longwood back into the game with 13 minutes to play in the contest.
James Madison stepped up the defense and limited Longwood to three points over the next six minutes while scoring 16 points of its own to gain its largest lead of the game at 67-48. The Lancers could not recover and lost their third-straight contest.
Besides Ashley and Amber Mason, the Lancers were led by Smith who scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out one assist. Longwood finished the game shooting 36.5% (23-63) from the field, including 33.3% (4-12) on three-pointers, and was 66.7% (10-15) at the charity stripe.
James Madison had four players finish in double-digit points, including Young who finished with a double-double of 21 points 14 rebounds. Dickinson led all-scorers with 22 points, while Andrea Benvenuto and Meredith Alexis added 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Dukes shot 50.0% (31-62) from the floor, including 45.5% (5-11) on three-pointers, and was 50.0% (9-18) at the free throw line.
