ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Despite a career-high 25 points from junior Raven Williams, UNC Asheville (7-16, 6-8) gutted out an 88-77 double overtime victory over Longwood Thursday night in a mid-week conference game at Kimmel Arena.

The performance from Williams is one of the highlights of a spectacular season for the Richmond, Va., native. Prior to Thursday's game, Williams finished one-point shy of her previous career-high of 20 points on four different occasions. The junior came into the contest as the only player in Big South play to rank among the top five in points (15.5 PPG) and assists (3.64 APG).

The Lancers (3-20, 3-11) were plagued by injuries and foul trouble throughout, but the squad kept battling ultimately to fall just short of claiming their first road victory of the season. Longwood lost Kyndal Skersick – the team's third leading scorer and second since Daeisha Brown's season-ending injury – less than six minutes into the contest.

"I've never been more proud of a group of young ladies," said Longwood head coach Bill Reinson. "With all of the adversity they have faced already this season, to go out there and battle for 50 minutes the way they did is incredible. Every time I looked up, we were carrying someone off the court injured, but the other ladies stepped up and played great."

Two early fouls from Williams in the first half limited the star junior to three minutes in the opening half to go along with three points. Co-captain Deborah Headen along with Micaela Ellis stepped up to lead the Lancers with six points at the break.

Despite the injuries and the adversity, the Lancers held an 11-point advantage with less than five minutes remaining. However, missed free throws down the stretch along with a pair of clutch three pointers from Shonese Jones brought Asheville even with the Lancers to force overtime.

Williams was a big reason for the lead, as she was dominant at times in the second period in leading her squad with 17 second half points on 6-of-12 shooting and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. After sitting for much of the first half, she was able to get into the flow of the offense with seven early points in the second period.

"We were getting a lot of touch fouls called on Asheville when we drove to the basket, so I just asserted myself early by driving to the basket," Williams said.
Longwood was also able to shut down Asheville's offense in the second half, holding the Bulldogs to 10-of-37 (.270) shooting and 3-of-12 (.250) from three-point range.

The first overtime featured more heroics from Williams, as she hit a deep three-point shot with 30 seconds remaining to tie the game and ultimately send it into a second overtime. Headen – who finished the night with 17 points and nine boards– had a shot to win at the end of the first overtime that would hit off the rim.

"I knew we were down by three and I just shot the ball with belief," Williams said. "I was just praying it went in and it went in."

The Lancers took a four-point advantage in the second overtime, but Jones scored eight points in the second overtime to help Asheville escape with the win.

Longwood concludes a stretch of four games in eight days, as the squad travels to Gardner-Webb Saturday, Feb. 7. The game is set for a 3 p.m. tip inside Paul Porter Arena.

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to field a team on Saturday, but we won't see a gutsier performance than we did tonight," Reinson said.

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