The Longwood’s women basketball team (6-20, 3-14) will head to Liberty for their last road game of the season this Saturday, Feb. 27. Coming off their sixth straight loss to Radford, the Lancers will face the Flames (15-10, 12-4, Big South) while on their longest losing streak of the season.
“We have struggled the last six games for consistency and that’s something that you need in order to beat Liberty is consistency,” said women's basketball head coach Bill Reinson. “We got to become more consistent. We got to get back to playing 40 minutes … if we can get back to playing 40 minutes, I think we’ll have a good chance the rest of the way.”
The last time these two teams met, the Lancers were in a similar situation. They had lost four games in row before falling inside Willett Hall, 72-67. The Lancers were able to maintain a strong offensive, which gave them the lead.
With double-digit performances from senior guard Raven Williams, sophomore guard Autumn Childress, and senior guard Deborah Headen, the Lancers managed to keep the Flames at bay for most of the second quarter. Williams, who will miss the upcoming game due to a foot injury, led Longwood with 14 points, two assists and a rebound; Childress and Headen secured 10 points and two rebounds as well as a combined five steals.
Headen currently averages 7.5 points per game and has been a double-digit scorer in 12 out of the 26 games this season, hopes to provide a solid game again.
“I’m just working on trying to be consistent from game to game. Consistency is one of the biggest keys for this game,” said Headen.
The Flames ended with the five-point victory thanks to impact players like redshirt-senior forward Catherine Kearny. She added 20 points, four rebounds, and two blocks, followed by freshman guard Mickayla Sanders with 15 and redshirt-senior forward Katelyn Adams with 11.
While Liberty outrebounded the Lancers (36-24), Longwood had a better three-point shooting percentage (.379) and they plan to utilize that again.
Headen said, “Threes are always our go to because there are a lot of three-point shooters on our team.”
The Lancers also have a game plan to neutralize the “three-headed monster” of the Flames: Kearny, Adams and redshirt-senior forward Ashley Rininger. The trio of super seniors make up three of Liberty’s top four scorers and Kearny already proved to be difficult obstacle for the Lancers to overcome in their previous contest.
Reinson said, “What we did last time was we put a lot of pressure on them … As it turns out, we just stole the ball from them or they got a wide-open layup and that contributed to her (Kearney) great shooting performance. This time, we’ll try to be a little more disciplined and maybe not over extend the defense and give her so many easy ones.”
Reinson said he hopes to use Childress and junior center Eboni Gilliam, who in the past five games have become impact players, to make some more plays for the team.
“We’ll try to draw Liberty’s bigger players out. Hopefully, Autumn and Eboni can make a couple of shots and when we draw them out, they’re skilled enough to get pass them and to the rim,” said Reinson.
With only three more conference games left, Reinson recognizes the pressure for the team to snap their losing streak, but believes that it’s not much different than the pressure they have felt all season.
“I think we feel pressure, especially losing six in a row. We feel a little bit pressure every game to bring our A-game,” stated Reinson. “We’ve been in some contests; we’ve fallen just a little bit short. Other games, we haven’t played very well. I’d rather just have consistency over the last three games, because I think the rest of it will work itself out.”
As the season winds down, Liberty is the next game on the schedule for Longwood on Saturday, Feb. 27. Their previous meeting saw Longwood lose 72-67 at home. (Pictured: Sophomore guard Micaela Ellis)
