November 20, 2003 BOX SCORE
Farmville, Va. - The Longwood women's basketball team was stopped by Pittsburgh-Johnstown 73-59 in the first game of the C&L Lancer Classic this evening in Lancer Hall. The Lancer loss was the first home defeat in 15 games dating back to the 2001-02 season. Longwood drops to 2-2 and will face Slippery Rock on Saturday at 2 p.m., while Pittsburgh-Johnstown moves to 2-0 and will face Slippery Rock Friday at 7 p.m.
The Lancers were down by as many as six in the first half as PJU's Crystal Barr tallied 17 points. Longwood managed to climb back and take the lead on an Abbey Freese (West Liberty, Ohio/West Liberty Salem) three-pointer with 2:24 left in the half. Solid defensive stops in the final minutes of the period and a short jumper by sophomore guard Amber Mason (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) allowed Longwood to take a 31-30 advantage going into the break.
In the second half, Longwood lead by four on three separate occasions, but failed to put away the Lady Cats who shot a blazing 66.7 percent from the floor. PJU went on a 19-3 run in the middle of the second half and laid on the defense, holding the Lancers to just 13 points in the final 10 minutes.
Junior All-American candidate Marita Meldere (Rujiena, Latvia/Lynchburg Christian) tallied her third double-double of the season with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Mason added a career-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and pulled down four rebounds. Senior Ebony Smith (Palymra, Va./Fluvanna County) added nine rebounds and four points, while sophomore Jessica Wilkerson (Roanoke, Va./Northside) and Freese chipped in five. The Lady Cats had three players in double figures, led by Barr's 28 points. The Lancers shot 36.5 from the floor and held the advantage in rebounds 28-25.
