Seven wins in the 2010-11 season. Seven wins in the 2011-12 sea- son. So far in the 2012-13 season, the Longwood women’s basketball team has nine wins, and the season isn’t even halfway done yet. Bill Reinson’s squad has won three games in a row and six games out of seven, starting 6-1 in their first year in the Big South Confer- ence. A five-game losing streak that began in mid-November and stretched into the start of December now feels like a lifetime ago as the Lancers surprisingly find themselves in first place two weeks into the league schedule. Recently, the team beat Radford, Garner-Webb and Winthrop to start 3-0 in the conference. A 71-62 loss to Presbyterian dropped the team to 6-9 overall, which set the stage for three memorable games at the start of the semester. 23 points behind Chelsea Coward gave Longwood a 67-52 win over Charleston Southern on Jan. 12, a game that saw the Lancers outscore the Buccaneers by 11 in the second half. Longwood shot 44 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc.
Against Campbell, the Lancers played a thrilling contest in front of a small but vocal group of students that braved the elements of heavy, wet snow outside. Inside Willett Hall, the action was nothing short of white-hot.
The game was tied at 75-all with 12.5 ticks on the clock, and Rein- son called a timeout to set up one final play, one that would hope- fully seal a huge victory.
It paid off. With five seconds left, Crystal Smith powered the way through the lane and sank the layup with less than 2.8 seconds left. A Hail Mary- type shot by the Fighting Camels found nothing but hardwood as the buzzer sounded, giving the Lancers a 77-75 victory. Smith’s career-high 32 paced LU on that evening, and she was named Big
South Player of The Week for her efforts. “It was an exciting finish to a great game between two very good basketball teams,”
Reinson said after the game. “One play here or there and Campbell could have just as eas- ily won that game. The difference in tonight's game was the play of Crystal Smith. She was absolutely terrific tonight.”
It was a tale of two halves last Saturday afternoon as the women took on the Chan- ticleers of Coastal Carolina. A crowd of over 300 saw a gutsy second half effort lead Long- wood to a 77-63 win over CCU. The Lancers were not performing at their highest level in the opening frame, and trailed 38-25 at the half. Reinson said afterward that “We still must work on our energy in the first half,” adding, “We continue to play very well after the break.”
Daeisha Brown led all players with 26 points on the day, as the Chanticleers were outscored by 27 in the second half. An 18-3 Longwood run gave the Lancers a lead with 13:31 to go that they wouldn’t relinquish. With Smith’s 20 points against Coastal, she is now eight away from 1,000 on her career.
Up next for the Lancers this week are two teams expected to be among the contenders for the conference championship — High Point tomorrow, and Liberty on Saturday evening. Both games are on the road. Reinson was unavailable for comment on this article. All quotes come courtesy of Long- woodLancers.com.
