Golden Bears spoil Longwood’s home opener

Published 1:29 pm Tuesday, November 29, 2016

A 20-point day from West Virginia University Institute of Technology guard Zjhane West to go along with 18 points from Savannah Shamblin helped the Golden Bears play spoiler in the Longwood University women’s basketball team’s home opener Saturday. The Lancers lost 76-58.

West, Shamblin and a double-double performance from Cheyanna Lusk helped the Golden Bears negate a Longwood team that had four players finish the afternoon with double-figure scoring performances to propel the NAIA member to its sixth straight win of the season.

West, the Golden Bears second-leading scorer, scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the opening half, helping her squad to a near-.500 shooting percentage. West and Shamblin combined for half of West Virginia Tech’s points and helped the Golden Bears post the second-highest shooting percentage (.473) against Longwood this season.

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The Golden Bears (6-3) shot the ball .473 (26-of-55) from the floor and forced the Lancers into 26 turnovers, while leading the contest wire-to-wire and holding a double-digit lead for the final three quarters. In addition, the Golden Bears outrebounded the Lancers by a 45-43 margin, despite being undersized.

For Longwood (1-4), the loss puts an end to a streak that saw the Lancers go unbeaten in non-conference play inside Willett Hall since the 2014-15 season, with the blue and white going undefeated inside its home gym last season.

Kemari Jones and Eboni Gilliam each had double-double afternoons in the loss. Jones had 11 points to go along with 12 rebounds, and Gilliam poured in 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

A product of Melbourne, Fla., Jones followed a career-high 24-point performance from last Sunday’s win at UMass Lowell with her second career double-double performance and second straight game finishing in double figures for the fourth time in her career.

Meanwhile, Gilliam notches her first double-double of the season and second straight game in double figures, finishing 5-of-12 from the floor, 10 rebounds, one assist and one block in 32 minutes of action.

Autumn Childress finished with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, while Jada Russell added 14 off the bench for her fourth game in double figures this season to lead Big South rookies in scoring.

Longwood will return to Willett Hall to take on Norfolk State University on Saturday. The opening tip is set for noon.