November 17, 2007

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va.-- Longwood University women’s basketball recorded its second consecutive win Saturday evening, handing visiting Morgan State a 74-70 loss at Willett Hall.  The Lancers (2-3) had three people in double-digit figures for scoring, led by freshman Cierra Baker’s/Windsor, Conn. (Windsor) 16.  The Bears (1-2) were led by Corin Adams’ 23 points.  Longwood will return to action on Friday, November 23, when they travel to George Mason for a 7 p.m. tip-off with the Patriots.
    
Senior Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) opened the game with a three-pointer off an inbounds pass from sophomore Becky Fernandes/Fairfax (Bishop Ireton) for the 3-0 lead.  Morgan State quickly racked up four points and took a one point lead after Adams sunk a three for the 4-3 score.  After a back and forth battle for the next three minutes, the Lancers were had three-pointers from Baker and freshman Krystal Garrison/Fredericksburg (Stafford) capping a  Longwood 8-2 run that lead to a 27-15 lead with 7:29 left in the first half.  The Bears continued to fight and cut the deficit in half late in the first half, but Garrison hit another timely three to give Longwood a nine point lead with 1:42 left before the break.  Small finished the scoring in the first half hitting a runner in the lane with six seconds left for the 38-29 halftime lead.  
    
The Lancers did not let up in the second half and scored the first eight points on a three by junior Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan), and lay-ups by Small and Williams, to take a 48-31 lead.  Longwood’s biggest lead of the contest came a minute later when Small hit a pair of free throws to push the game at a nineteen point Morgan State deficit.  
    
Morgan State would not quit and began to chip away at the Longwood lead with 13:47 remaining in the game as the Bears’ Tamara Rogers hit a lay-up for the 51-39 score.  After the Lancers went on a run to bring the game back to an eighteen point deficit, Morgan State came right back and took advantage of Lancer turnovers and fouls late in the game and was within single digits with less than a minute remaining.  The lead proved to be too large and the Lancer defense and junior Anna Steg/Vienna (George C. Marshall) buckled down to grab the win.  Steg was strong in the paint in the final minutes of the game, pulling down key rebounds in the win, and finished with 11 in the game.  Nine of Steg’s 11 came in the final twenty minutes.
    
Baker and Williams helped the Lancer bench out scoring Morgan State 42-17.  Williams finished with 13 points while starters Dyer and Small recorded 14 and 11 points.  Baker was one rebound short of her first collegiate double-double recording nine.  As a team Longwood shot 39.6% from the floor while Morgan State shot for 25.6%.