For the second straight season, the women's basketball team started off on the right foot. The team Friday defeated the Longwood University Lancers 70-61 on the road in the season opener.
After giving up the opening lay-up to Longwood's Amber Sims, the Eagles quickly took the lead and held it throughout the first half. A 12-2 run started on Liz Hayes' first two points of the campaign and was capped by a pair of free throws by Talicia Jackson, giving the Eagles a commanding 12-4 lead seven minutes into the game.
This lead was whittled down by the Lancers during the rest of the first half, as teammates Sims and Keiva Small poured in eight points a piece to put Longwood back in front by two points, heading into the break 27-25. Jackson scored 10 during the opening frame for the Eagles.
This back-and-forth action continued into the second half as well, as the lead changed hands 11 times over the first 10 minutes of the final period, with neither team able to gain more than a four-point advantage during this time.
Following an Eagle time out at the 7:31 mark, AU took the lead for the final time and never looked back. Two free throws by Maggie Smith-Davidson put the Eagles up for good, changing a one-point deficit into a 52-51 advantage.
Longwood stayed strong for most of the second half, shrinking the AU advantage to 60-59 with 2:41 to go in the game, but this was as close as the Lancers would get to winning for the rest of the game.
The Eagles went on a 10-1 run to close out the match, with Jackson scoring five out of the 10 AU points during this stretch to lead AU to victory.
Jackson finished with a game-high 22 points, with teammates Hayes and Pam Stanfield contributing 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Eagles look to continue this momentum as they make their Bender Arena debut Tuesday night against Virginia Commonwealth University. The game tips off at 7 p.m.
