February 13, 2011

Box Score

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Longwood University women's basketball team dropped a 60-34 decision at fellow Independent Savannah State University on Sunday afternoon in Savannah, Georgia. The Lancers (6-18) were led by junior Brittanni Billups|Goldsboro, N.C. (Eastern Wayne) with eight points while junior Brittany Jones|Richmond (North Florida) snared a game-high seven rebounds. The Tigers (13-10) were led by Ezinne Kalu with 26 points and six rebounds. Longwood returns to action on Saturday, February 19, when it travels to Bakersfield, California, to take on CSU Bakersfield at 5 p.m.. The Lancers defeated the Roadrunners 77-65 in Farmville earlier this season.

The Lancers led briefly after a pair of free throws by sophomore Erin Neal|Durham (Hillside) put Longwood ahead 2-1 with 19:07 remaining in the first half. Kalu hit a three-pointer to give the Tigers the 4-2 lead. Billups hit a jumper to tie the game at 4-4 with 16:54 remaining in the half. Ezinne hit a layup to put SSU ahead for good at 6-4 with 16:04 remaining. A three-pointer by freshman Bria White|Silver Spring, Md. (Bethesda-Chevy Chase) snapped a 4:56 scoring drought and pulled the Lancers within two at 9-7 with 11:58 remaining in the half. Junior Mina Jovanovic|Smederevska Palanka, Serbia (Salt Lake CC) made a layup 5:24 remaining to snap a 6:34 spell without a field goal to pull within five at 16-11. Savannah State outscored the Lancers 11-2 in the rest of the first half.

A jumper by White and two free throws each from Billups and Jones cut the lead to 13 at 32-19 with 15:30 remaining, but that was as close as Longwood would get in the second half. The hosts went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 22 at 41-19 with 12:45 remaining. The Tigers led by as many as 28 at 56-28 with 3:00 left in the game.

Longwood shot 22% (9-41) from the floor, including 11.1% (1-9) from behind the arc, and 48.4% (15-31) from the foul line. Billups scored eight points (2-5 FG, 4-4 FT) and grabbed five rebounds while Jones grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Lancers had four assists and five steals and scored 17 points off of 24 SSU turnovers.

Savannah State shot 44.4% (16-36) from the floor, including 18.2% (2-11) from behind the arc, and 59.1% (26-44) from the foul line. The Tigers were led by Kalu with 26 points (8-19 FG, 9-12 FT) and six steals while Fila Smith had six assists. SSU turned 28 Longwood turnovers in to 26 points and had 17 steals.