November 23, 2007
BOX SCORE
FAIRFAX, Va.-- Longwood University women’s basketball fell to George Mason 58-53 Friday afternoon in Fairfax. The loss puts the Lancers to 2-4 on the year while the Patriots move to 3-2 on the year. Senior Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) led the Longwood shooters with 14 points, ten of which came in the second half. Longwood will return to action on Thursday, November 29 when they travel to Richmond for a 7 p.m. tip-off with the Spiders.
The Lancers opened the scoring on their second possession of the game, as sophomore Becky Fernandes/Fairfax (Bishop Ireton) drove down the lane and found junior Anna Steg/Vienna (George C. Marshall) for the easy lay-up and he 2-0 lead. Longwood played tough defensively early on, taking a three-point lead with them into the first media timeout as George Mason only shot 1-7 from the field.
Longwood continued to keep the pressure on both sides of the floor and built a ten point lead after Fernandes made a steal on the defensive end and freshman Cierra Baker/Windsor, Conn. (Windsor) finished the play on a lay-up on the other side of the court for the 15-5 lead into the second media timeout. Longwood came out of the timeout and built its biggest lead of the half, 12 points on a lay-up by senior Odessa Williams/Stratford, Conn. (Stratford) for the 20-8 lead with 8:49 left in the first half.
The Patriots began to chip away at the Longwood lead with 7:49 left in the half going on a 9-0 run to bring the deficit to one after Lateisha Wade hit a lay-up with 5:44 to go before the break. Freshman Mallory Short/Richmond (Mills E. Godwin) ended the Longwood drought and Baker followed on the Lancers’ next possession to put Longwood’s lead back to 24-19 with 4:47 left in the first half. George Mason closed the half strong, outscoring Longwood 9-2 to take a 28-26 halftime lead.
The Lancers came out of the locker room and hit the opening three baskets on a three from junior Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan) and two jump shots by Small to take a five point lead early in the second half. The Patriots cut the Longwood lead to two on their next possession as Rashauna Hobbs hit a three and tied the game after a Longwood turnover for the third tie of the game 33-33.
Hobbs gave the Patriots a four point lead after her second three of the half with 13:20 left in the game. The Lancers struggled from the floor and had their next 12 points come off the foul line, eight of which came from the solid shooting of Short. After Small hit two back-to-back lay-ups, to bring the Lancers within two, Short hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 53 with 1:53 left in the game. GMU would not relinquish the lead and hit the back end of a free throw and a jumper in the paint to build a three point lead with 0:11 left in the game. Freshman Krystal Garrison/Fredericksburg (Courtland) fired a three with five second left but the shot hit off the backboard and the Patriots won the rebound to end the Lancers’ run.
Off of ten second half points, Small led the Lancers in scoring recording 14 points while Short ten of her 12 points from the foul line. Baker led Longwood on the boards pulling down a team high seven rebounds. Longwood shot 34.0% from the floor while George Mason shot 42.9% for the game.
