Box Score

CONWAY, S.C. – The No. 7 seed Longwood University women's basketball team ended the game on a 12-6 run to hold on and take the 70-63 first-round victory against No. 10 Charleston Southern University (8-20)  at the 2013 VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Women's Basketball Championship. Senior Erin Neal/Durham, N.C. logged a career-high three, three-point field goals en route to a personal-best 22 points to lead the Lancers in the victory. Senior Crystal Smith/Richmond added 17 points to the offensive effort. Longwood (12-18) advances to the quarterfinals with the win and will take on No. 2 Winthrop University on Friday, March 8. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

“It's very difficult to beat a team three times in a season, and Charleston Southern is very talented offensively," said head coach Bill Reinson. "Charleston Southern played their hearts out today -- Shay Jones was outstanding and at times Lakeitha Alston was unstoppable. Today it just proved that games don't have to be pretty to be counted as 'Ws.' We had four seniors who didn't want to go home early. As long as we keep playing hard, we'll stick around for a while.

“We still haven't played our best game yet. Today, maybe we were a little bit excited about it being our first Big South Tournament game. I think it showed, but we settled down.”

The Lancers scored their first two buckets of the contest with steals and fast-break layups from Neal to take an early, 4-2 advantage. The Buccaneers tied the score at 4-4, but senior Chelsea Coward/Mechanicsville hit a free throw and Neal followed with a three-point play to make it 9-4 with 14:54 still to go in the half. CSU cut the buffer to one, but Longwood responded with nine in a row, capped by a deep three from Coward and a layup from freshman Khalilah Ali/Suffolk, giving LU a 18-8 lead with 12:10 remaining. The Lady Bucs snapped the skid with an 11-1 run to tie the game for the third time, this time at 19-19, with 6:47 remaining in the first. The squads traded baskets before CSU took its first lead of the game at 24-21 at 4:34. Charleston Southern led by as many as four points on two occasions, including at 28-24 with less than two minutes to g0. Neal hit another three for the Lancers and Smith logged a pair of free throws to pull the Lancers within two with seconds remaining. LU took advantage of the last possession of the half, as Ali received the inbound from Neal and banked in a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to send the squads into the half knotted at 33-33.

CSU was aggressive coming out of the break, posting the first five points and grabbing its largest lead of the contest. Longwood would not let the deficit stand for long, mounting a 15-6 run that included eight straight points from freshman Daeisha Brown/Richmond, to take 48-44 lead with 12:03 remaining. The Lancers led by as many as six, following a pair of jumpers from Smith to pull ahead 54-48, but the Lady Bucs outscored LU, 9-4, to make it a one-point game at 58-57 with 5:35 still to go. Senior Mieke Elkington/Hamilton, New Zealand drained a three to put the Lancers on top, 61-57. The squads battled to the finish in the final minutes, as CSU was within two points of the lead at 65-63 with just 1:03 to play. The Lancers forced the Buccaneers to foul and Smith was strong from the line, hitting five of six free throws in the final seconds to secure the 70-63 postseason victory for Longwood.  

In addition to her 22 points, Neal recorded a game-high six steals. Brown rounded out the double-digit scorers for LU with 12 points, all of which came in the second half. Coward recorded eight points, along with a team-high eight boards. As a team, the Lancers shot 38% (21-56) from the floor, including 28% (5-18) from beyond the arc, and 64% (23-36) from the line.

Charleston Southern was paced by Lakeitha Alston and Shay Jones with 18 points apiece in the outing. Alston logged a double-double with 13 boards, as well. As a whole, the Buccaneers shot 35% (19-54) from the field, 27% (7-26) from three-point territory and 67% (18-27) from the foul line.

Wednesday's contest marked the fifth meeting ever between Longwood and Charleston Southern in the sport of women's basketball. The Lancers now hold a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series.