FARMVILLE, Va. – Senior guard Janay Turner scored 20 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, helping the Longwood women's basketball team to a 66-58 victory over USC Upstate in Big South Conference action at the Joan Perry Brock Center Wednesday.
 
Turner was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the final 10 minutes to as the Lancers (4-13, 2-3 Big South) dealt the Spartans (8-9, 3-1) their first loss of the season in league play. She finished 7-for-13 from the floor and 5-of-7 from distance.
 
The Lancers, who won when trailing to begin the fourth quarter for the first time since beating Radford, 65-63, on Feb. 18, 2023, also evened the all-time series with Upstate, 11-all with the victory.
 
"It's not about playing a perfect game," Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery said, "it's about the team that comes out and minimizes their mistakes.
 
"You look at the stat sheet and I'm scratching my head a little bit. I'm like, 'man, we got outrebounded, we didn't shoot very well from the free-throw line, but we took care of the ball, and that gave us possessions.' And we shot the ball really well offensively, particularly down the stretch. I'm just really pleased with our team. We had a great start and a great finish, and so that's all a coach can ask for."
 
Longwood posted its highest-scoring quarter of the season with 28 in the fourth, erasing a slim 39-38 deficit. LU was 11-for-18 from the foul line in the frame and finished the game 13-of-22 from the charity stripe.
 
"We did a great job of getting to the free-throw line," Lang-Montgomery said. "We talked about that. We had only taken two free throw the first half and so that was an emphasis, and our execution in the second half was getting in the bonus so that we could shoot those free throws."
 
The Lancers shot 23-for-52 from the field for 44.2 percent, including connecting on 14-of-26 attempts in the first half for 53.8 percent.
 
Longwood led 18-12 after the first quarter and 31-28 at halftime before Upstate limited the Lancers to just seven points in the third to take a lead into the fourth. That's when Turner took over. The Chicago native converted a layup off of a Kiki McIntyre feed on the first possession of the period to give LU a 40-39 edge.
 
Later, with the Lancers up, 48-41, Laney Bone blocked an Isabell West shot which Otaifo Esenbahalu rebounded and McIntyre again fed Turner for a trey and double-digit advantage at 51-41 with 6:32 to play.
 
Upstate's Dakota Reeves knocked down a triple of her own a minute and a half later, pulling the Spartans within 51-48, but Turner responded with another 3-pointer out of a timeout for a 54-48 game with 4:40 remaining. The Spartans' Trinity Johnson drained two from the line to cut the lead to four, but Turner struck again on the next trip, this time assisted by Bailey Williams. LU worked the lead back to double figures from there, and was not threatened the rest of the way.
 
"She puts in the time, so I was really glad to see shots fall for her," Lang-Montgomery said of Turner. "I didn't realize exactly what she had that fourth quarter, but I knew she had gotten hot, hit some big threes for us late game."
 
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy was the only other Longwood player in double digits with 10 points, while Esenabhalu corralled eight rebounds. McIntyre scored seven points and grabbed three steals.
 
Reeves and Johnson paced USC Upstate with 12 points apiece in the loss.
 
Longwood returns to action Saturday at Presbyterian. Tip time is 2 p.m.