February 4, 2004
BOX SCORE
HICKORY, N.C. – Longwood senior Ebony Smith/Palmyra (Fluvanna County) hit a long three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to lead the visiting Lancers past Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.), 74-71, Wednesday night in North Carolina. With the win, Longwood improves to 13-8 on the season, while the Bears drop to 10-9 overall. The Lancers will return to action Tuesday, Feb. 10, as they travel to Lawrenceville to take on St. Paul’s. Longwood won the match-up earlier this season, defeating the Lady Tigers, 90-53, Dec. 3 in Lancer Hall.
At Lenoir-Rhyne, the Lancers erased a nine-point halftime deficit, as junior Marita Meldere/Rujiena, Latvia (Lynchburg Christian) scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the second stanza to give Longwood the 42-30 advantage in the half. The two teams tied for the sixth of seven times (66-66) in the period with 1:57 remaining after Meldere picked up a steal and was fouled as she hit a lay-up off a pass from sophomore Ashley Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne). Meldere then gave the Lancers the lead as she sank the subsequent free throw (67-66). Longwood extended its advantage to 69-66 as sophomore Amber Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) hit another lay-up at the 1:17 mark. The Bears answered with their own field goal to pull within one (69-68) but Meldere retaliated, draining her second lay-up in a minute to give the Lancers the two-point margin. The two teams were even again (71-71) at the :05 mark after the host school sank the front end of a pair of free throws and hit their own field goal before Amber Mason in-bounded the ball to Smith, who drained the game-winning trey just as she stepped over the timeline as the clock expired to secure the road win.
In addition to Meldere’s 25 points, she also grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season. Twins Ashley and Amber Mason aided the scoring-effort with their own double-digit nights of 17 and 10 points, respectively. Amber also added five of the team’s 11 steals and six rebounds, while Ashley grabbed five boards and dished out one assist. Junior Catherine Dunn/Aberdeen, N.J. (St. John Vianney) closed out the contest with eight boards and three assists and senior Erica Marcum/Charleston, W.Va. (George Washington) posted six points and tied her season-best six assists. Longwood shot 46.3 percent (31-67) from the floor, including 31.8 percent (7-22) from three-point territory, and 50.0 percent (5-10) at the foul line.
Leading-scorer Crystal Clary paced the Bears with her team-best double-double of 18 points and 13 boards, while Katrina Andrews and Kristen Barringer added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Lenoir-Rhyne shot 52.8 percent (28-53) from the field, 30.8 percent (4-13) from beyond the arc, and 73.3 percent (11-15) at the line.
