Top seed Liberty University Flames (20-6, 16-1) went from an 11 point deficit to winning by five on Tuesday night in Willett Hall. Longwood’s (3-24, 3-15) trouble defensively with the tall Flames caused them to be out-rebounded, 41-26.
Liberty’s junior forward/center pair, Katelyn Adams, 6-5, and Ashley Rininger, 6-4, contributed a combined 13 rebounds, six on offense.
Offensive rebounds resulted in 14 second chance points, over a quarter of Liberty’s total score in the second half (42).
Longwood junior guard Kyndal Skersick—coming off an ankle injury—finished with her season-high 21 points after going 4-for-4, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, in the first half. Skersick was the only player to leave the court at half time in double-digits (13).
“It was nice to have Kyndal back," Longwood head coach Bill Reinson said to the Longwood Athletics’ official website. "She is a terrific scorer and really balances our line up."
Longwood junior guard Raven Williams scored 12 of her 16 points following halftime, in response to Liberty’s second half scoring spike.
Free throws finished the Lancers as Liberty’s senior guard Emily Frazier swished two with 25 seconds left to push the Flames to their final five point lead.
Frazier led Liberty in scoring with 13 points, eight from free throws. Liberty sophomore forward Simone Brown trailed Frazier by one in scoring with six of her points from the line.
The Lancers out-scored Liberty .421 (8-of-19) to .286 (4-of-14) from beyond the arc throughout the game and held Liberty to a .333 (8-of-24) average from the field in the first half.
“We had an outstanding effort from everyone tonight and followed the game plan perfectly," said Reinson to the Longwood Athletics’ official website. "Liberty is the best team in the league and we battled them for 40 minutes. In the end, they just made a few more plays than we did.”
The win cemented Liberty’s spot as the uncontested No. 1 in the Big South Conference. Longwood still holds No. 9 with only Charleston Southern (21-5, 1-16) below in the standings.
The Lancers have two games left in their regular season. The team will return to Willett Hall to face Presbyterian College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21. Last time out Presbyterian defeated the Lancers 53-48 led by freshman guard Cortney Storey, 11
Skersick with 21, shot lights out through the game going 6-for-8 from the field, 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. In the end, Longwood dropped the game 65-60 to No. 1 Liberty University.
Williams with 16, went 4-for-13 from the field, 1-for-4 from beyond the arc and 7-for-7 from the free throw line. In the end, Longwood dropped the game 65-60 to No. 1 Liberty University.
