Game 1 Notes (PDF)

FARMVILLE, Va. – The Longwood University women's basketball team will play its 2012-13 season opener on Friday, November 9 at the University of Richmond of the Atlantic-10 Conference. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Spiders' Robins Center (9,071).

Looking at Longwood
The Lancers return to action in 2012-13 under the direction of third-year head coach Bill Reinson. The team will be led by four returning senior starters in Crystal Smith, a 5-8 guard, Chelsea Coward, a 6-1 guard/forward, Erin Neal, a 5-7 guard, and Mieke Elkington, a 5-8 guard. Sophomore Rianna Frazer, a 5-4 guard, rounds out the returners for Longwood, as the squad lost eight letterwinners from a year ago. Last season, Smith led the Lancers with 313 points, 111 assists and 58 rebounds, while Coward finished second on the team in rebounds (146) and third in points (288). Coach Reinson will be assisted by Wanisha Smith in her fourth season, as well as first-year assistants Sarah Williams and Adria Crawford.

Scouting Richmond
The Spiders are led by ninth-year head coach Michael Shafer, in addition to four returning starters. The top returners for Richmond include redshirt-senior guard Rachael Bilney, who was second on the team with 368 points last year, and junior forward Genevieve Okoro, who led the team in rebounds with 233. The squad welcomes three newcomers in 2012-13. The Spiders finished the 2011-12 season with a 23-9 overall record. The team was picked to finish second in this year's Atlantic-10 Conference preseason poll.

Series History
Richmond holds a slight, 8-7 advantage in the all-time series. The teams first met during the 1968-69 season, when the Spiders earned a 53-33 victory. Longwood won seven games in a row between 1973 and 1981, but the Spiders have earned the last six decisions, including a 72-59 decision when the teams last met on February 13, 2012. In that outing, LU trailed, 40-24, at halftime, but pulled within seven early in the second half before UR scored 11 unanswered points en route to their victory on the road in Farmville. Longwood was led by junior Crystal Smith with a game-high and season-high 24 points and classmate Chelsea Coward with a career-high 23 points.