January 25, 2006
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University women’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 62-61 loss to visiting Southern Conference member Elon this evening at Willett Hall in Farmville. The loss drops the Lancers overall record to 6-14, while the Phoenix improved their record to 9-9 with the win. Longwood, who had three different players finish in double-figure points, was led by senior forward Ashley Mason/Virginia Beach, Va. (Princess Anne) who scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds; her seventh double-double of the season. Longwood will be back in action on Saturday, January 28 when they travel to Indiana to face-off against the Mastodons of IPFW. Game time is slated for 1:00 p.m.
Elon controlled the first 11 minutes of the game, building a six-point advantage at 17-11 with 12:16 left in the first stanza after Tierra Bumbrey drained a three-pointer. A jumper by senior guard Jessica Wilkerson/Roanoke (Northside) and a three-pointer by freshman guard Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan) sliced the Phoenix’s lead to one, but two made free throws and a layup by Katie Whidden pushed Elon’s lead to five at the 9:55 mark.
Longwood used a 22-4 run over the next seven minutes to take control of the contest with a 13-point lead with less than three remaining in the half. With the score 28-25, sophomore guard Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) made a layup, freshman forward Amber Sims/Lawrenceville (Brunswick Senior) scored three buckets, while Mason made a layup to give the Lancers the 38-25 lead.
The Phoenix closed out the half with a 8-0 spurt to cut their halftime deficit to five at 38-33.
Elon quickly cut Longwood’s lead to one early in the second stanza after Nikko King and Bumbrey both made layups, but a 11-1 run by the Lancers pushed their lead back to double-digits at 49-38 with 12:16 remaining in the contest.
Longwood continued to keep the Phoenix at bay for the next five minutes, but with the score 54-44 Elon started to mount its comeback. Sashonna Moore drained two free throws, Bumbrey hit a jumper and Kitara McMoore made a layup to slice LU’s advantage to four at 54-50 with 5:45 left in the game.
A 6-3 run by the Lancers, that was capped on a three-pointer by Small, gave Longwood some breathing room at 60-53 with 2:34 remaining, but Robyn Shipley drained her second three-pointer in under a minute and McMoore made a layup with 43 seconds left in the game to cut the Lancers lead to 60-58.
After Small hit one of two free throws to push LU’s lead to three, Bumbrey drove the floor and drained a pull-up jumper for Elon to cut the score to 61-60 with 26 seconds remaining. Longwood broke Elon’s full court press, but Mason was unable to hold onto a pass and turned the ball over to the Phoenix with 12 seconds left. Elon passed the ball into Whidden down low who put up a shot and was fouled on the play by Small. Whidden drained both free throws to give Elon its first lead since the first half. A last second three-pointer by Wilkerson hit off the rim and the visiting Phoenix escape with the one-point come-from-behind victory.
Besides Mason, the Lancers were led by Small and Dyer, who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. Longwood finished the game shooting 41.0% (25-61) from the field, including 31.3% (5-16) on three-pointers, and was 50.0% (6-12) at the charity stripe.
Elon was led by McMoore who finished with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. The Phoenix finished the game shooting 41.8% (23-55) from the field, including 31.3% (5-16) on three-pointers, and was 84.6% (11-13) at the free throw line.
