January 5, 2007

BOX SCORE

Lynchburg, Va.—Longwood women’s basketball was unable to get things going offensively in Friday’s 82-48 loss at the Vine Center against the Liberty Flames.  Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) led the Lancers (5-12) with 13 points in 35minutes of action, while the Flames’ (8-6) Molly Frazee recorded 14 points going 5-6 from the floor.   Longwood will return to action on Tuesday, January 9, when they travel to North Carolina to take on High Point, for a 7 p.m. match-up.

Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan) got started early for Longwood, scoring the Lancers’ first five points and cut the Flames’ led to 7-5 with three minutes gone in the half.  That was it for Longwood until the two minutes later as Liberty stiffened on the defensive end, grabbing a 12-5 lead into the first media timeout.  After a Liberty basket out of the timeout, Anna Steg/Fairfax (George C. Marshall) brought Longwood back within five on a lay-up at the 15:01 mark. 

With 12:11 to go in the half, Abbey Freese/West Liberty, Ohio (West Liberty-Salem) hit a three-pointer and hit a jumper on Longwood’s next time down the floor to bring the Lancers within eight.  The final ten minutes of the half was all for the home squad, as Liberty was able to outscore the visiting Lancers 17-8, to head into the locker room with a 37-20 lead.  At the break Freese led all scorers with eight points.  The Flames were stellar from the floor shooting 58.3%, while Longwood went 8-28 for a 28.6%.

After Small closed the first half recording the Lancers’ final five points, the junior picked up where she left off, tallying Longwood’s first three points of the second hlaf, on a lay-up and hitting the front end of free throws the next time down the floor.  The Flames dominance inside proved to be the difference maker, as Liberty recorded 46 points in the paint while Longwood only tallied 16 in the loss.  The Flames also spread the ball out evenly as all 14 of the Liberty players made their way on the box score in the points column, including outscoring Longwood’s bench 48-15 for the game.

“I think both Courtney and Keiva both stepped up tonight to help take over at the point,” stated head coach Pamela Bass.  “When you use a leader and player like Ashleigh Hollman for a game you need other players to step up and both of them did.”

Behind Small’s 13 points was Dyer who recorded her fifth double-digit performance in the past six games, finishing with 12 points in a career high 37 minutes while Freese added 11 of her own in the match-up.  For the game Longwood shot 35.3% from the field and went 55.6% at the foul line.  The Flames shot a season high 58.6% (34-58) from the field and 66.7% from three-point land.

“It was great to see three different players hit double-digits in points,” said Bass.  “We need to get back to our defensive game and get the attitude and intensity we had in the early part of the season.  A big thing for us this week at practice will be boxing out.  We need to start making our mark in the box score in that category.”