Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - The No. 10 seed Longwood Lancers faced off against the No. 7 seed Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs in the kickoff game of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Tournament. From the opening tip the Lancers tried to set the tone for the game defensively but offensively were stifled by Gardner-Webb.
“It's really strange against Gardner-Webb as we usually try to keep them on the perimeter and force turnovers because it favors us, but when they can set up and get the ball inside it favors them,” said Head Coach Bill Reinson
The Lancers were cold from the field as they took six minutes to score as sophmore guard Treasure Avery drove the lane and earned the first points. The Runnin' Bulldogs used their height in the post to dominate the boards while pushing the ball into transition points for the Bulldogs to take an early advantage.
The on-court leader for the Bulldogs junior forward Olivia Parker and senior guard Mayhana Dunovant led the way for the Bulldogs asthey pushed the lead to 17-9. Longwood was aided by 11 overall turnovers in the first half, and nine in the second half.
Both teams struggled shooting the ball in the first as Gardner-Webb shot 34.5 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from the free throw line as they found themselves there seven times in the first with Longwood committing 11 personal fouls overall. The Lancers shot 31 percent from the field and most notably 18 percent from behind the arc.
The second half had the Lancers coming out scrappy from the first possession as junior guard Raven Williams, the Lancers leading scorer, finally got a fieldgoal to fall. Alongside junior guard Kyndal Skersick who played a big role in picking up point production while Ellis' hot hand faded. Skersick said of her performance, “we weren't scoring so we put pressure on them full court to try and get some points.”
A couple minutes into the second half, Williams found a consistent stroke as she was able to drive the lane after not being able to do it in the first half. Williams made four field goals but made 11 of 12 from the charity stripe, marking a tournament record free throw percentage with a minimum of 10 attempts in the first round. Williams “was able to drive more and got to the line.”
The Lancers could not keep up with the Bulldogs pace as Gardner-Webb used a combination of speed and athleticism to keep the Lancers frustrated from one side of the floor to the other. Sophmore Kiera Currie contributed most to the transition and second chance point scoring for the Bulldogs as she had a team leading 17 points.
As the second half winded down, so did the offensive production for the Lancers with the team not scoring a field goal in the the last 7:37 of play. Although Williams and Skersick got trips to the free throw line, they could not capitalize elsewhere as the Bulldogs continued to score. Reinson added “We've gotten mentally tough, usually crumble when shots aren't falling. We've gotten better in the past weeks. You can tell at the six minute mark they were exhausted and that's when (Gardner-Webb) started to be able to set up and get buckets. It really just came down to personnel.”
Once Longwood started to press, it was clear to see Gardner-Webb was fast and ready for that pace of play as senior forward Jessica Heilig and junior guard Candace Brown scored layup after layup to put the Bulldogs ahead for good.
The Lancers fell short of victory with 27.9 percent shooting overall with a 12.5 percent three point shooting percentage. This marks the end of an injury ridden season for Longwood. Reinson summed up the season as, “you win the ones you make plays on and lose the ones you don't.”
