The Longwood women’s basketball program opened up their alumni day game against Charleston Southern University on Jan. 28 by honoring their all-time wins leader Shirley Duncan.
Duncan coached the Longwood women’s basketball team for 23 seasons and surpassed 300 wins on the sideline. After being inducted into the Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame about a year ago, Longwood honored her again by retiring an honorary jersey.
“Coach Duncan means a lot to me. She has been a friend and a mentor since I got here,” said current Lancers head coach Bill Reinson. “It was an honor that was very well deserved, and I think it’s great that people in the future generations will remember her with her jersey on the wall.”
After the awards ceremony, Charleston Southern stole the spotlight and defeated Longwood, 62-47. This leaves the Lancers at 3-16 (0-8) and Charleston Southern at 11-8 (5-3). Despite the 15-point deficit at the end of the game, Longwood played close the whole first half, down just 25-22 at halftime.
“The first half, our intensity and our defense was good. Rebounding was also good. Then we came out after halftime and both sides of the ball were a little flat, but we have to be able to still stop them when our shots are not going in,” said Reinson.
Charleston Southern’s sophomore guard Rachel Burns had a career-high 25 points, her second 20-point game of the season. This added to the Buccaneers’ 16-5 run in the second half. Burns also had nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in 36 minutes. CSU was dominant in the paint, outscoring Longwood 40-10.
“We lacked defensive intensity, especially in the second half,” said junior guard Micaela Ellis. “The defense has to be consistent. We have to keep consistent for four quarters because a quarter or two quarters is not going to win a game.”
Ellis and redshirt freshman guard Kate Spradlin each had nine points. Ellis also had six assists, three rebounds and two steals. This was Ellis’s tenth straight game with three or more assists.
Longwood will hope to pick up their first conference win against High Point on Jan. 31. The game will be the Lancers’ annual pink game for breast cancer awareness at Willett Hall.