The LU women’s basketball team came into Willet Hall on Monday with one loss already under their belts, after they fell to Seton Hall 46-63 on Friday. Monday marked the first game the team has played in front of the rowdy Willett crowd this season. They welcomed to campus the Tribe of William & Mary.
At the tip of the ball, the Lancers made their intentions known by coming out of the gate in full attack mode, jumping out to a quick lead early in the first half. The Lancers did this by attacking W&M in transition.
Longwood’s offense sputtered for the remainder of the first frame. The Lancers shot only 9-for-28 from the field in the first half and were victim to 14 turnovers.
The offensive struggles could be linked to the foul trouble of stars Raven Williams and Daeisha Brown. Khalilah Ali and Kyndal Skersick were the stars of the first half. Ali grabbed nine rebounds with five points, and Skersick added nine points and three boards in the first half.
The Tribe had Senior Kaitlyn Mathieu to thank for their first half successes as she contributed 10 points and three rebounds in the first half. The teams went into the locker room with William & Mary leading Longwood 25-23.
In the second half, the two teams traded blows, and little was gained. By the 12-minute mark, W&M maintained a 36- 31 lead over LU. In the next two minutes, the Tribe extended their lead to the 10-point margin of 31- 41.
Having seen enough, Lancer Head Coach Bill Reinson called a timeout to refocus his team with the message that there was a lot of time left and they were still in the ballgame. Out of this timeout the Lancers responded with a courageous run, sparked by sophomore Raven Williams’ deep three with 8:06 remaining in the game, making the score 38-43.
Shortly after, sophomore Ali brought Willett Hall to a fever pitch with her old-fashioned three-point play, which cut the lead to two at 41-43. William & Mary freshman Marlena Tremba silenced the crowd with a three- pointer of her own extending the lead 41-48 after a W&M layup.
Second half star Brown would not go quietly though, as she responded with a coast to coast drive to the bucket, making the score 43-48. After scores from Williams and Ali, the Lancers had stormed back from 10 down to cut the lead to one.
With 4:32 left, Brown gave Longwood its first lead since the first half with an aggressive drive cutting through the Tribe 2-3 zone. The lead would be short lived, as Tremba would bury a jumper to give the lead back to the Tribe with four minutes left to go.
The Lancer faithful were brought back to their feet with a strong put-back layup from Kyndal Skersick to give the Lancers the lead. Longwood would not look back from there as they cruised for the next three minutes to an improbable come-from-behind victory by the score of 59-52.
The Lancers were led by a stellar performance from Brown, who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
“We couldn’t get a good feel for the offense at first and the defense struggled, but when we took the timeout at 10 minutes, we felt that we weren’t out of it,” Reinson said. “Even though we made some questionable plays and left them in the game, we still had 10 minutes to go. This team has a lot of heart and a lot of character, and they pulled together and pulled through in the end.”
No. 4 Raven Williams takes a shot against William & Mary on Monday night. The Lancers won the game with a final score of 59-52.
