CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern guard Weknyne Dumorne led three double figure scorers to the sharp-shooting Buccaneers to a 73-57 win over the Longwood women's basketball team Tuesday night at the Buc Dome in the Big South opener for both teams.

Dumorne scored her 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor to lead three Charleston Southern players in double figures, as the Buccaneers (6-6, 1-0 Big South) were able to overcome a game-high 18 points from Longwood (2-10, 0-1 Big South) junior guard Ciarah Bennett, a season-high 16 points from Kate Spradlin and a nine point, three assist game from Micaela Ellis.

"Our effort tonight on defense wasn't where it has been recently and it cost us," said Longwood head coach Bill Reinson. "We gave up way too many easy baskets, especially in the second half. We were extremely passive and were content to let them miss shots, rather than forcing them to miss shots."

Dumorne led a Buccaneer offensive surge that saw her squad shoot .509 (28-of-55) from the floor – a season-high for a Longwood opponent this season. She was joined in double figures by Njeri Neims, who finished the game with 14 points, along with six rebounds and two assists, as well as 11 points from Lexii Cassell.

"We're not good enough to go through the motions," Reinson said. "We need to show up and compete every game and we didn't do enough of that tonight."

A product of Camden, N.J., Bennett had her top performance of the season in her first start, as she finished 5-of-10 from the floor and added two rebounds along with two assists assists in 32 minutes. The game marked her first double figure scoring game of the season after scoring in double figures in four of Longwood's last five games of the 2016-17 season.

Meanwhile, Kate Spradlin finished in double figures for the second straight game, scoring 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, including a 4-of-6 performance from beyond the three-point line. With her four triples, Spradlin, who has finished in double figures in each of her last two games, had Longwood's top shooting performance of the season from beyond the arc.  

Tuesday's game saw the return of senior guard Autumn Childress after the Midlothian, Va., product missed three games due to injury. The Big South's leader in rebounding with 10.6 per game, Childress came off the bench and scored five points, along with seven rebounds. 

Longwood returns to Willett Hall Saturday, Jan. 6 at 5:30 p.m. against Presbyterian. That game will be part of a doubleheader along with the men's team and will be streamed along the Big South Network.

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