February 11, 2007

BOX SCORE

SAVANNAH, Ga.—The Longwood women’s basketball team suffered a 56-41 setback at Savannah State on Sunday afternoon. The Lancers (7-18) were led by Anna Steg/Fairfax (George C. Marshall) who recorded her fourth double-double of the year tallying 11 points and 13 rebounds, while Savannah State (10-16) was paced by Milan Johnson’s game-high 14 points in 25 minutes of action. The Lancers will look to bounce back from today’s loss on Tuesday, February 13, as they play their final home contest of the season. Longwood will tip-off with the Winston-Salem State Rams at 7 p.m. at Willett Hall.

Abbey Frees/West Liberty, Ohio (West Liberty-Salem) hit a three off an in-bounce to get the Lancers on the board 3-0, in the first minute of play. That would be Longwood’s only lead of the game, as the Tigers went on a 6-0 run capped by a three-pointer from LaShara Smith to break the 3-3 tie just 2:30 into the contest. Steg brought Longwood within one putting back an offensive rebound on Longwood’s next possession. Savannah State was able to build a 12-5 lead the next four minutes, as Longwood stalled offensively, not recording a point on the Lancers’ next six possessions. Amber Sims/Lawrenceville (Brunswick Senior) hit the back end of a pair of free throws to end the scoreless streak. The Tigers’ Smith hit another timely three a short time later, and Johnson laid in a shot on the next Savannah State possession to force the Lancers to take a thirty-second timeout with 9:23 to go in the half. A jumper by Sims with 5:43 to go before the break, was the last field goal for Longwood as its final four points of the half came on free throws from Keiva Small/Norfolk (Norview) and Courtney Dyer/Richmond (Monacan) as the Tigers built a 34-13 halftime lead. The Lancers shot 11% (3-27) from the floor, while SSU went 13-23 from the floor.

The Lancers began to chip-away at the 21 point halftime deficit out of the break. Freese started things off by hitting a jumper on Longwood’s second possession of the half. Longwood was able to cut the deficit to 14 after Leigh Mascherin/Greensboro, N.C. (Ragsdale) came off the bench and sunk a three with 10:10 to go in the game.

Savannah State went up to as many as 22 with 3:09 to go in the game after Johnson hit a lay-up. After Small hit a pair of free-throws and Mascherin hit a three, the Lancers were able to bring the deficit back down to 15. Steg hit a pay-up the next time down the floor to cut the Tigers’ lead to 13 but it was too late as Longwood recorded is 11th consecutive road loss.

Behind Steg’s 13 points was Mascherin who recorded eight points in the loss. Becky Fernandes/Farifax (Bishop Ireton) recorded ten rebounds, while Sims pulled down seven. For the game the Lancers shot 21.5% from the floor while Savannah State shot 42.9%.