March 5, 2009
BOX SCORE
OREM, Utah – Longwood University fell to host Utah Valley University 81-73 in the semifinals of the Division I Independent Women's Basketball Championship on Friday night in Orem, Utah. The #4 seed Lancers were led by sophomore guard
Krystal Garrison/Fredericksburg (Courtland) who scored 16 points and grabbed three rebounds. Longwood falls to 7-21 while Utah Valley improves to 16-10. Sandy Wall led the #1 seed Wolverines with a game-high 26 points. Longwood will play Savannah State at 6:30 p.m. ET tomorrow (Saturday) in the consolation bracket.
Longwood fell behind quickly, trailing Utah Valley 12-3 with 16:38 remaining in the first half. The Lancers rallied back, going on a 13-4 run over the next 2:18. Garrison hit two three-pointers during the span and freshman
Emma Zieverink/West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West) drained another. A
Sierra Fletcher/Utica, Ohio (Utica) layup with 14:20 tied the game at 16-16. The two teams would trade baskets before Utah Valley took a 23-20 lead on a Kayla Burningham layup with 11:05 remaining in the first half. Neither team could score until Utah Valley's Julie McMurray nailed a three-pointer with 7:35 to go in the half. A Garrison three-pointer and layup closed the gap to 28-25. Two
Cierra Baker/Windsor, Conn. (Windsor) layups and another by
Becky Fernandes/Ft. Belvoir (Bishop Ireton) made the score 34-31 with 3:13 remaining. Two free throws by Lauren Smith pushed the Utah Valley lead back to five but another Garrison three-pointer closed the gap to 36-34. Two free throws by
Amber Sims/Lawrenceville, Va. (Brunswick Senior) and two more by Zieverink put Longwood ahead 38-36 with 1:35 left in the half. Wall hit a three-pointer and two free throws to give Utah Valley a 41-38 halftime lead.
Longwood tied the game at 45-45 with 17:43 remaining in the second half on a Sims jumper, but could not go ahead. Utah Valley's lead slowly increased and a McMurray layup with 5:13 remaining put the Wolverines ahead 67-57. The Lancers would trim the lead to four with 3:42 remaining but they would get no closer. Utah Valley would not score another field goal but went 13-16 from the free throw line in the final 2:48 to hold off Longwood.
Garrison scored 14 of her team-high 16 points in the first half on 4-7 shooting from behind the arc. She finished the game only one point off of her season high. Fernandes finished with 12 points and five assists while Fletcher and Baker added 10 points each. Zieverink grabbed 11 rebounds and added nine points, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. Longwood shot a season-best 15-for-18 (.833) from the free throw line.
The Lancers dominated the boards, out-rebounding the Wolverines 42-34. Longwood grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, converting them to 11 points.
Utah Valley was led by Wall who scored 26 points, 10 of them from the line. McMurray added 23 points and eight rebounds.
