Women’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker Against Longwood

Saturday, February 18

Radford, Va.

2:00 PM

Radford University

11-16,7-9Big South

Longwood

8-19,7-9Big South

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Longwood	16	10	16	23	65
Radford	9	17	20	17	63

Photo by: Rob Simmons

Women’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker Against Longwood

2/18/2023 4:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RADFORD, Va. – The Radford women's basketball program came up just short in an exciting game inside the Dedmon Center Saturday afternoon, falling to Longwood in the final seconds, 65-63.

Before Saturday's game Radford honored their four seniors with a pregame recognition at home court. The team thanked Rachel LaLonde, Jackie Christ, Ashley Panem and Bailee Adkins for their dedication to the program. At halftime the team honored the alumni in attendance at half court as well.

The hot-shooting Lancers started the game as advertised, hitting their first couple of shots to build a 4-0 lead. Christ, who had provided a double-figure scoring night, got Radford on the board as the two teams traded buckets throughout the first half. Going down by as much as 11, Radford responded with a strong second quarter.

Shots by Olivia Wagner, Christ and Ashlyn Traylor opened the second quarter. With under two minutes to go the offense fully caught fire and used an 5-0 run thanks to two makes by Traylor and a free throw by Vanessa Blake to tie the game at 26-all going into halftime.

The Highlanders kept up the offensive pace and continued to hang around into the third quarter. Finally, in the closing minutes of the third, Radford went on an 8-0 run to take a commanding lead. Traylor netted the team's first three-pointer of the day and LaLonde accented the quarter with an absurd and-one opportunity and conversion.

A Maci Rhoades layup put Radford up 48-42 to start the fourth quarter and a three-pointer by Carmen Williams put Radford up seven. An and-one by Blake would put Radford up even further at 54-46 with five minutes to go as Radford seemed in control.

A flurry of mistakes and turnovers would give Longwood a 13-0 run that allowed them to go out in front 59-54 with two minutes to go. Needing a response, Radford went to work in the paint with layups form Blake, LaLonde, and Williams who gave Radford back the lead at 60-59. Two clutch free throws by Wagner seemed to put Radford ahead for good at 62-59 with seconds to go. Longwood heaved a three-pointer to tie the game and used a foul after a Radford turnover on the next play to escape Dedmon defeating Radford 65-62.

TRAYLOR LIGHTS UP FROM THREE
The three-pointer didn't come easy Saturday, but don't tell that to Traylor who was as efficient as it gets shooting three-for-four from beyond the arc. With the trio of three-pointers Traylor led the team in scoring once again today with 17 total points. Traylor owned three of the four three-pointers by Radford with Williams the only other Highlander to hit from deep.

UP NEXT
Radford will regroup and look to respond when they host High Point for the final home game of the regular season this upcoming Wednesday. Action is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN3.

Follow Women's Basketball on Social Media
For more information on the Radford women's basketball team, follow @Radford_WBB on Twitter and Instagram or Radford Women's Basketball on Facebook.