Mount St. Mary’s Falls to Longwood in Women’s First Four – CBS Baltimore

RIGHT OF SALE, NC (AP) – Akila Smith had 32 points and 13 rebounds, Kyla McMakin added 18 points with four 3-pointers and 16th seed Longwood took the lead with 22 points before holding Mount St. Mary’s 74-70 on Thursday night in a game the first four game opening.

Longwood (November 22) will have a 10-game winning streak in Saturday’s showdown against ACC champions North Carolina State (March 29), the Bridgeport Region’s top seed. The Lancers will make their first appearance at the NCAA Tournament – three years after finishing with a 3-27 record.

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Longwood scored 13 points opening the game, with eight from Smith, and led the rest of the way.

It was 36-18 hours break – with 18 points and eight rebounds from Smith.

Mount St. Mary’s was 1 of 13 points from a 3-point range in the first half – almost getting a second from Kendall Bresee on one half-court shot at the buzzer but it went off after watching the video again.

Longwood cut its lead to 55-43 in the fourth quarter. The Mount took six of their first eight 3-pointers in the second half and hit 57-50, but Smith scored the next six to take a 13-point lead with 5:07 remaining. Tra’Dayja Smith took five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds to give Longwood a two-ball lead.

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Mount St. Mary’s (16-13), which had only seven substitutes due to injury, lost for the first time in seven games.

Bresee, averaging 17.4 points a game for the top team, scored 15 of 20 points in the third quarter for Mount. She only had two points in the first half.

Mount St. Mary’s missed the first 10 shots of the game, eight coming from 3-pointers, before ending the goalless drought with 4:11 remaining after two Jada Lee free throws. The Mount ended the first quarter turning only 1 to 16, including 0 to 9 in the rear arc.

Mount St. Mary’s made her second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament after entering the bubble in San Antonio as the 15th seed and losing in the first round to Maryland 98-45.

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