FARMVILLE, Va. – Guards Janay Turner and Adriana Shipp-Davis combined for 30 points, but visiting Winthrop held off the Longwood women's basketball team, 58-53, in the Big South Conference opener for both teams at Joan Perry Brock Center Wednesday.
 
Turner led the Lancers with 17 points and three 3-pointers while Shipp-Davis added 13 points and five rebounds. Longwood (2-11, 0-1) climbed back into the game using a 14-2 run that spanned halftime and then later cut the deficit to 47-46 with a 2:28 to play with a layup from Frances Ulysse. Winthrop's Marissa Gasaway responded on the next possession with a jumper off of a Leonor Paisana pass. Jada Ryce followed with a rebound of a Longwood miss, hitting a jumper in the paint to make it 51-46. That bucket prompted a timeout with 1:28 left.
 
Laney Bone then hit a layup for a 51-48 game with 46 seconds remaining. Down 53-48, Turner knocked in a triple to cut it to a two-point game once more, but Winthrop went 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final seconds to secure the win.
 
"I was pleased with our effort tonight," said Longwood head coach Erika Lang-Montgomery. "I thought we really worked hard and we competed and we fought. We had a slow start and got down to begin the game, but then we fought back.
 
"I liked our defense [in the] second, third quarters. We still got to be a little bit more gitty or hungrier on the boards," Lang-Montgomery continued.
 
Ryce tallied a game-high 21 points, adding seven rebounds four steals and three assists to help the Eagles even their record at 7-7 on the season. Marissa Gasaway led all players with 10 rebounds. Elli Garnett was the only other Winthrop player in double figures with 11 points. Otaifo Esenabhalu snared a team-leading nine rebounds for Longwood.
 
The Lancers outshot Winthrop connecting on 19-of-49 shots from the floor for 38.8 percent while the Eagles were 17-of-58 for 29.3 percent. Longwood turned 20 Winthrop turnovers into 15 points and visitors had a slight 39-36 advantage on the boards.
 
Winthrop opened with the game's first seven points -- five from Ryce -- but Longwood used an 11-3 run, which included a four-point play by Shipp-Davis, to take a one-point lead at the 5:52 mark when she hit a driving layup and was fouled.
 
Tied at 16-all with less than a minute left in the quarter, Paisana scored Winthrop's final five points of the stanza for the lead.
 
Winthrop opened a 27-16 edge at the 6:34 mark of the second quarter before Longwood began to chip away. A trey from Shipp-Davis started the outburst. After baskets by Bailey Williams and Malea Brown, Anne-Hamilton LeRoy helped the Lancers to within 27-25 before halftime.
 
Ulysse gave her team a 28-27 edge at the 6:33 mark with a layup off of a Kiki McIntyre steal. The lead changed hands three more times until a 9-0 thrust by the Eagles made it 38-30 with less than three minutes on the clock in the third.
 
The Lancers battled to within 42-41 on three free throws by Turner with 7:20 to play but were unable to pull it out down the stretch.
 
LeRoy finished with six points, two assists and two steals and is now alone in 10th all-time in career scoring at Longwood with 1,340 points.
 
Next up, Longwood hits the road for Saturday to take on Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. at Buccaneer Fieldhouse.
 
"We got to turn the page," said Lang-Montgomery. We got to figure out how to take care of the ball, that's been a nemesis the last couple games, and we got to get ready for a much-improved Charleston Southern team that got a good win tonight on the road."