February 25, 2006
BOX SCOREFARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University women’s basketball team closed out the 2005-06 campaign with a 70-56 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this evening at Willett Hall in Farmville. The loss gives the Lancers a final record of 9-19, while the Islanders improved their record to 70-56. Longwood was led by senior forward Amber Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) who scored a game-high 21 points, and added three rebounds. Mason also become the 18th women’s basketball player to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau during the game; she closes out her career with a total of 1,013 points.
With Longwood leading 5-4 at the 16:37 mark of the first half, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 6-0 run to gain a 10-5 lead; a lead it would no relinquish. The Lancers did tie the game at 10-10 after senior forward Ashley Mason/Virginia Beach (Princess Anne) converted a three-point play and junior guard Abigail Freese/West Liberty, Ohio (West Liberty-Salem) made a layup, but the Islanders responded by building an 20-14 lead at the 9:07 mark.
Longwood cut the lead to two 20-18, but again Texas A&M-Corpus Christi responded, this time with a 14-3 spurt over the final seven minutes to go into halftime with a 34-21 advantage. Monica Pena capped off the Islanders run draining a three-pointer with time expiring.
An 11-2 run over the first six minutes of the second stanza gave TAMCC a 45-23 and put the game out of reach for the Lancers.
Longwood did cut Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s lead to 11, 63-52, after Amber Mason hit a jumper with 41 seconds left in the contest, but it could not get any closer as it dropped the 14-point loss.
Besides Amber Mason, Longwood was led by sophomore guard Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) who scored 14 points, grabbed two rebounds and dished out one assist. Ashley Mason added nine points, a game-high eight rebounds and one block. Longwood finished the game shooting 44.0% (22-50) from the field and was 70.6% (12-17) at the charity stripe.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had three players finish in double-digit points, including Pena who scored a team-high 13 points. Mercedes Cooper and Kirbria Lewis chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Islanders finished the game shooting 39.3% (24-61) from the field, including 36.4% (4-11) on three-pointers, and was 75.0% (18-24) at the free throw line.
