November 12, 2006
BOX SCORE
Washington, D.C.-- The Longwood women’s basketball team rallied back from a 36-25 halftime deficit to earn a 66-59 win at American in Washington, D.C. Sunday afternoon. The win was the fifth consecutive Lancer season-opening victory and head coach Pamela Bass’ first win at the helm of the Longwood program. Longwood will host the Lancer Invitational Friday November 17-Saturday November 18 opening the tournament with a 6:00 p.m. tip-off with Norfolk State, followed by a match-up between NJIT and North Florida at 8:00 p.m. Friday evening.
“This was an overall team win,” stated head coach Pamela Bass. “The leadership displayed by our seniors Abbey Freese and Ashleigh Hollman helped us stay composed down the stretch.”
The Eagles built a lead of 15 points on two occasions in the opening half. The Lancers made a strong push in the final minutes of the half as freshman Becky Fernandes/Farifax (Ireton) hit two free throws and a lay-up to put Longwood within 11 points at the break. Junior transfer Odessa Williams/Stratford, Conn. (Stratford) made her presence felt in the post recording 11 points in the opening 20:00.
Out of the break American’s Rachel Brazell hit a jumper to put the lead back up to 13 with 18:35 to go. Lead by senior Ashleigh Hollman/Centreville (Westfield) Longwood began to chip away at American’s lead as Hollman began to get the hot hand from behind the arc, hitting three consecutive three pointers to cut the lead to four points heading into the first media timeout.
“Our team made the adjustments they were supposed to make,” said Bass. “Ashleigh got hot in the second half and we continued to call her number early on.”
Longwood called a 30-second timeout after the Eagles rebuilt their lead to 13 points with 13:17 to go in the game. After back-to-back jumpers from sophomore Amber Sims/Lawrenceville (Brunswick Senior) American found its lead cut to only four points with 8:43 to go in the game and called a timeout to regroup.
American began to build momentum out of the timeout, but a three-pointer by Abbey Freese/West Liberty, Ohio (West Liberty-Salem) turned all the momentum to the Longwood bench for the remainder of the game as the Lancers out scored the Eagles 15-2 in the final 6:05.
Fernandes was strong down the stretch, giving Longwood the lead for good on a three-point play, putting in a lay-up and hitting a foul shot a short time later putting the score at 62-59. The first-year guard finished the game with 12 points, including going 8-9 from the line.
“Becky did not play like a freshman in her first collegiate game today,” explained Bass. “She played with composure and poise of an upper classman down the stretch, hitting important free throws and just giving up her body to get to the ball.”
Williams recorded a game high 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds while junior Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) and Hollman finished with ten and eleven points respectively.
