January 14, 2006
BOX SCORE
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University women’s basketball team defeated visiting IPFW 86-69 this afternoon at Willett Hall in Farmville. The win improves the Lancers overall record to 6-11, while the Mastodons fell to 2-13 on the season. Longwood, who had four different players finish in double-figure points, was led by freshman center Anna Steg/Fairfax (George C. Marshall) who scored a team-high 22 points and added eight rebounds, three assists and one block. LU will be back in action on Thursday, January 19 when they play at Norfolk State. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.
IPFW, who scored the first bucket of the game on a jumper by Ashley Johnson, controlled the first half. The Mastodons held a six-point lead five different times over the course of the first six minutes, including an 18-12 lead after Johnson scored a layup at the 14:01 mark. Longwood was able to cut the lead to three after Steg converted a three-point play, but a jumper by Natalie Roberts and Johnson gave IPFW some breathing room at 22-15 with 12:08 remaining in the first half.
The Mastodons continued to hold the Lancers at bay, but with IPFW leading 31-24 at the 6:37 mark, Longwood started its comeback. A 7-2 run by the Lancers cut the Mastodons lead to 33-31 with 3:01 left on the clock before halftime. Freshman guard Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan) hit a jumper, senior forward Amber Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) converted a three-point play and junior guard Abigail Freese/West Liberty, Ohio (West Liberty-Salem) made a layup to help Longwood slice IPFW’s lead to two.
Tina Moen of IPFW made a layup to push the visiting team’s advantage to four, but back-to-back three-pointer by Freese gave Longwood its first lead of the game at 37-35 with 48 seconds remaining in the half. Johnson hit a jumper with nine seconds left to tie the game at 37-37.
Longwood came out flying in the second half as it quickly built a seven-point lead at 46-39 when sophomore guard Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) drove the lane and made a layup. The Mastodons were able to get within three at 50-47, but a 12-2 run by the Lancers broke the game open and gave LU a 15-point advantage with 11:27 remaining in the contest.
IPFW was able to cut Longwood’s lead to 11 at 67-56 after a free throw by Johnson at the 8:21 mark, but a 11-4 run gave the Lancers their largest lead of the game at 78-60 with less than five minutes remaining in the contest. IPFW could not recover and Longwood was able to win its second-straight contest.
Besides Steg, the Lancers were led by Freese, Amber Mason and senior forward Ashley Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne), who chipped in 17, 15 and 14 points a piece, respectively. Longwood finished the game shooting 47.7% (31-65) from the field, including 25.0% (4-16) on three-pointers and was 74.1% (20-27) from the charity stripe.
IPFW was led by Johnson who scored a game-high 24 points, and added seven rebounds, four steals and one assist. The Mastodons finished the game shooting 39.7% (27-68) from the field, including 6.3% (1-16) on three-pointers, and was 70.0% (14-20) at the free throw line.
