Longwood University Athletics

RADFORD, Va. – Redshirt senior guard Adriana Shipp-Davis hit a running layup to give the Longwood women's basketball team a 59-57 lead with 1:27 to play Wednesday, but Radford's Olivia Wagner nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key 40 seconds later and the Highlanders held on for a 64-59 Big South Conference victory at the Dedmon Center.
 
Wagner scored a game-high 23 points, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from 3-point range, to help Radford (6-10, 2-0 Big South) break a five-game losing streak against Longwood (3-12, 1-2). Wagner, who added four assists and three rebounds, led a group of four Highlanders in double figures. The Big South Player and Freshman of the Week honorees – Ashlyn Traylor-Walker and Joi Williams – tallied 13 and 11 points, respectively, while Taniya Hanner scored 10 for Radford, which shot 40.7 percent from distance and missed just one of its 12 free throws.
 
Anne-Hamilton LeRoy paced the Lancers with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting, adding three rebounds, three assists and one steal, and Janay Turner scored 12 points in 31 minutes.
 
"I thought we came out really strong and aggressive in the first quarter," said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. "We punched back in the second quarter and then it was kind of a game of runs the rest of the way.
 
"It was the team that was going to make the big plays down the stretch and they did that tonight," Lang-Montgomery continued.
 
Longwood came out hot in the first quarter, connecting on 10 of its 14 attempts, including five in the first five minutes, to build a 10-5 advantage by the first media timeout. LeRoy hit a jumper at the 4:27 mark and Shipp-Davis a layup a minute later to give the Lancers a double-digit advantage at 16-6 with 3:11 left in the frame.
 
Wagner knocked down a trey with 40 seconds remaining in the period to pull her team to within 20-16, but Turner scored the final five points of the quarter to restore a comfortable edge.
 
Radford responded in the second quarter to take the lead. The Highlanders started the stanza with a 13-3 stretch, taking a 29-27 lead on a Williams layup with 4:49 gone. Frances Ulysse later knotted things at 29-all with a basket inside, assisted by Laney Bone, but a Williams triple gave the Highlanders a 5-2 push into the halftime locker room and with it, a 34-31 advantage.
 
Turner sniped one from downtown on Longwood's first possession of the second half for a 34-all tie and the Lancers went ahead, 38-34, on layups by Turner and Ulysse before two more 3s from Wagner and one from Williams handed Radford a 43-38 lead with 6:07 to play in the third quarter.
 
Bone converted an old fashioned three-point play for a 49-49 tie 15 seconds into the fourth, prior to the teams trading the lead no fewer than five times down the stretch.
 
Longwood held Radford to 38.9 percent from the field (21-for-54) while shooting 25-of-53 (47.2 percent). The Lancers also dominated inside, outscoring the Highlanders, 34-18. Radford, though, carried a 37-29 rebounding edge.  
 
Longwood returns home Saturday to host UNC Asheville at the Joan Perry Brock Center. Tip time is slated for 2 p.m.