January 21, 2009

BOX SCORE

FARMVILLE, Va. - The Longwood University women's basketball team dropped a close game to Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday night in Willett Hall, falling to the Hawks 57-55 at the buzzer.  Sophomore Krystal Garrison/Fredericksburg (Courtland) tied the game up at 55-55 with five-seconds remaining on the clock, nearly sending the game into overtime.  The Hawks, however, would pull out the victory with just two-seconds on the clock on a quick jumper by Adobi Agbasi.  Longwood falls to 5-12 on the season, while UMES improves to 6-9.  The Lancers return to action on Sunday, January 29, at 2 p.m. when they take on Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) member and in-state opponent Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Freshman Brittanni Billups/Goldsboro, N.C. (Eastern Wayne) and Garrison led the Lancers in total points with 11. Billups also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, while teammate Anna Steg/Vienna (George C. Marshall) grabbed six on her quest for her 500th career rebound (she currently has 476). April McBride was the games leading scorer, putting away 17 points for the Hawks. Casey Morton and Adobi Agbasi both grabbed eight rebounds for UMES to tie Billups for the game-high.
   
Longwood jumped to a quick lead, holding an eight point advantage (10-2) with six minutes played in the first half after freshman Brooke Long/Richmond (Mills E. Godwin) buried a three-pointer. The Hawks would battle back to take a one point advantage (11-10) four  minutes later, but the lead would be short lived courtesy of a Garrison three-pointer with 11:21 remaining. Steg would put the Lancers up by three with 4:54 remaining after laying one up in the paint to give the Lancers a 20-17 lead. Two quick fouls following the Steg layup would spark a Hawk comeback that saw them pull ahead 27-20 with just under a minute remaining. The Lancers would get a couple points back, but UMES would had into the locker room up 27-22.
   
UMES picked up where it left off at the end of the first half increasing its lead to 36-24 just three minutes into the second period. Longwood would slowly chip away at the lead, eventually regaining control of the scoreboard with eight minutes remaining in the game. Garrison would sink a jumper at the six minute mark to put her side up 48-42. Similar to the end of the first half, a string of quick Lancer fouls would spur a Hawk comeback with McBride laying one up with a little under three minutes remaining to put the Hawks up 51-50. UMES would hold onto the lead until the final 00:17 when Garrison took the ball to the basket to lay one up to tie the game 55-55. The game appeared to be headed for overtime until Adobi Agbasi grabbed an offensive rebound and pulled up just inside the paint to give UMES the 57-55 victory.
   
Both teams shot 40% from the field, with Longwood making 18-45 and UMES sinking 22-55. The Hawks had the advantage at the free-throw line, shooting 90% (9-10) compared to the Lancers 65.2% (15-23).