The 2011-12 campaign continued to drag on for the Longwood Lancers women's basketball team on Monday night. The Lancers dropped a 53-41 road contest to Savannah State University (SSU). The game was played in Savannah, Ga. The now 5-20 Lancers were paced by junior Chelsea Coward, who scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. The women's team is 4-2 at home, but is a dismal 1-16 on the road.
Longwood led 13-10 midway through the first half of action after junior Mieke Elkington drained a jump shot. A 9-1 run by the Lancers gave them a nine-point halftime lead of 24-15. The Lancers also won the rebound battle in the first half, pulling down 24 to the Tigers' 15. Longwood opened to the lead to 11 five minutes into the second half, but the wheels came off and a 13-2 run by the Tigers tied the game with twelve minutes left. SSU stretched the lead to 11 with less than five minutes left in regulation. They held on in the final moments for the victory. The Lancers failed to make a field goal in the last six minutes of regulation.
Crystal Smith and Elkington combined for eight points apiece in the road loss. Smith also had a team high eight rebounds in the night. The Lancers were only 15-45 (33.3 percent) from the field, including 0-5 from three-point range. The team made 11 of 16 free throws (68.8 percent). Turnovers hurt the Lancers as they coughed it up 21 times during the game. SSU outscored LU 31-8 during the final fifteen minutes of the contest.
Ezinne Kalu scored 19 points for the hometown Tigers, a game high. She also collected four rebounds and swiped the ball from Longwood four times. Jasmine Norman scored 11 points for the host team and pulled down six boards. Zadous Pollard scored 10 points as well. SSU shot worse from the field (19-61, 31.1 percent) than Longwood. They were 2-10 (20 percent) from three-point land and 13-21 (61.9 percent) from the charity stripe. They outrebounded Longwood 45-35 and added 14 points on second chance shots. Longwood still leads the all time series against Savannah State 8-6.
Longwood will go back to work tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 9, when it travels to North Carolina State University of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Tip-off is set for at 7 p.m. in Raleigh, N. C. There are four games left on the Lancers' schedule.
