Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University women's basketball team took the lead for good at 62-61 with less than five minutes to go before securing the 79-73 victory against Big South Conference opponent Charleston Southern University (8-18, 3-14) on Thursday evening in Willett Hall. LU was paced by four double-digit scorers, including senior Chelsea Coward/Mechanicsville with a team-high 21 points. Freshman Daeisha Brown/Richmond added 19 points to the Lancers' offensive effort. Longwood will play its regular-season finale on Saturday, March 2 when Presbyterian College comes to Farmville for Senior Day. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Longwood was aggressive coming out of the gate, as Coward slapped the ball away from a CSU player for the steal and dribbled the length of the court to score a fast-break layup, giving LU an early 2-0 advantage. Charleston Southern, who did not lead by more than one point in the entire contest, took a 5-4 lead on a jumper from beyond the arc. The squads alternated points and the lead, and although the Lancers pulled ahead by four on two occasions, CSU knotted the score once again at 13-13 with 11:59 remaining in the first half. Longwood scored five in a row, thanks to a three-pointer from senior Mieke Elkington/Hamilton, New Zealand and a layup from Coward, to create an 18-13 buffer, but the Buccaneers answered with six-straight points to regain the lead at 19-18. The Lancers quickly retaliated, using a 10-4 run to take their largest lead of the half at 28-22 with just over four minutes to go. CSU scored eight of the last 13 points in the period, but Longwood held on to take a slight, 33-30 advantage into halftime.

The Lancers tallied the first bucket of the second half to make it a 35-30 contest, but Charleston Southern soon pulled within one. Longwood put together a 14-4 run to take its largest lead of the night at 49-38 with 14:27 remaining, but CSU answered with a 16-4 run of its own to take a 54-53 edge with 7:35 to go. The squads tied twice more, at 57-57 and 60-60, before LU took the lead for good with less than five minutes to play on a jumper from Brown to go up 62-61. The Buccaneers were within a bucket three more times in the final minutes, including at 66-63 with 3:11 remaining, but Longwood outscored the visitors, 13-10, before time expired to earn the 79-73 victory.

In addition to Coward's team-high 21 points, she also posted a team-best eight rebounds in the outing. Elkington logged 14 points and senior Erin Neal/Durham, N.C. tied a season-high with 13 points to round out the double-digit scorers for Longwood. As a team, the Lancers shot 40% (25-63) from the floor, including 36% (8-22) from beyond the arc, and 81% (21-26) from the line.

Charleston Southern was led by Lakeitha Alston with 22 points. Erin Bratcher and Shay Jones added to the offensive effort with 16 and 14 points apiece, respectively. As a whole, the Buccaneers shot 49% (25-51) from the field, 33% (7-21) from three-point territory and 100% (16-16) from the foul line. CSU will play its next contest at Liberty on March 2 beginning at 2 p.m.

Thursday's contest marked the fourth meeting ever between Longwood and Charleston Southern in the sport of women's basketball. The Lancers now hold a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series.