Myrtle Beach, S.C. – No. 10 Longwood University (3-25, 3-16) will be playing the No. 7 Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs (13-16, 9-11) in the first game of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Conference Tournament at noon on Tuesday.
The Longwood women’s basketball team has faced off against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs twice already this season and split the series, with each team winning in their respective home setting.
The Lancers will look to take the series and a chance to advance to the second round of the Tournament on Tuesday afternoon from the HTC Center.
It was a tale of two games between the Lancers and Bulldogs the first few times they squared off this season Longwood won the first matchup 63-59 in Farmville, Virginia and Gardner-Webb took the second game 80-53 in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.
The first matchup was also the first victory of the season for Longwood after a rough 0-11 start to the 2014-2015 season that saw five games against Power Five Conference schools, the most of any team in the Big South.
In that contest on December 28, All-Big South Honorable Mention, junior guard Raven Williams paced Longwood with 19 points, making it her fifth straight game scoring at least 16. Juniors Kyndal Skersick and Deborah Headen tallied 14 and 12 in the win. The second matchup, however, was a different story.
A Skersick-less Lancer squad struggled from the floor only hitting 25 percent from the field, including 29 percent from beyond the arc in an 80-53 loss. On the other side of the floor, Alexus Hill and Olivia Parker combined for 41 points, including 11 of the first 13 to allow Gardner-Webb to gain an early 13-7 lead.
It was all Bulldogs from that point on as they outscored Longwood 42-8 from the paint and out-rebounded the Lancers by 18. Headen was the leading scorer for Longwood with 13. Freshmen guards Shannon Mosby and Micaela Ellis stepped in and added nine points each in the losing effort.
The Lancers are coming off a road victory over the 11 seed Charleston Southern Buccaneers (this past Saturday, while Gardner-Webb is coming in with a full week off after a 74-58 home loss to High Point last Tuesday. The loss was the second loss in their last six games for the Bulldogs.
Longwood’s Ellis led the way with 14 points while Williams added 13, with 11 coming in the first half, as Skersick contributed with 11 of her own. That win secured the number 10 seed for the tournament and snapped a 9-game losing skid after defeating the Buccaneers back on January 24th in Willett Hall.
In Gardner-Webb’s home loss to High Point last week, Hill and Jessica Heilig both tallied 16 in the losing effort, while Candace Brown recorded her second straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The loss of Daeisha Brown has been something that has impacted this season for the Lancers and her leadership will be missed in the tournament. Brown is part of the core class of juniors that were on the 2012-2013 team that made it all the way to the Big South Tournament finals before eventually falling to their Route 460 rival Liberty University.
The winner of Tuesday’s contest will move on to play top seed Liberty on Thursday at noon. Both Longwood and Gardner-Webb are winless against the Flames this season with neither scoring above 60 in those four attempts.
